Richard Hughes
26 Nov 2008 - 10 Jan 2009
RICHARD HUGHES
"One Man’s Struggle to Take it Easy"
26th November - 10th January 2009
Preview: Tuesday 25th November, 6pm - 8pm
The Modern Institute at Sadie Coles HQ
Monday - Friday 10.00am - 6.00pm, Sat 12noon - 5.00pm
Free admission
The Modern Institute is pleased to announce the solo exhibition by Richard Hughes ‘One Man’s Struggle to Take it Easy.’
Conceived in the lexicon of suburban realism Hughes’ work replicates the familiarity of a built environment - walls, bicycles, posters: all of the visual markers lining the average walk home through a British suburb. While the work appears found it is in fact constructed - the wall is made from polystyrene, the bicycle is recast, and the banner is made in fibreglass, each exemplifying an intended specificity.
Partially obscuring our view and our means into the gallery lies the wall sculpture, a head-high replica of the screening normally used to disguise external bins or ornament garden sheds. Looking closely we realise the wall spells out ‘WHY DO I DO THIS EVERYDAY?’ he graffiti emblazoned on the M40 commuter route into London. The act being done and the person intended to be asking themselves the question are left unknown as only the approximal value of the sculptures forms hints at a presence: the mossy teddy bear, and the rusty bike parts all suggest a value once belonging to someone.
The ambiguities of the entry and exit point to the exhibition contribute to the sense of making one’s way through a darkened passageway where a heightened sense of sentimentality and longing for the past emerge amongst the fragmented debris of daily life. As we step beyond the floor-based sculpture, a folded banner merely revealing the number 40, we are confronted with a torn rainbow. The top layer, the blue reverse of posters has been torn back to reveal a spectrum of colour. In more than one sense this becomes like the act of pealing back the layers of memory and time to reveal the nucleus of positivity and happiness once held in the precious, yet disposable objects on display: objects that having been rendered sculptures, are testament to a lost but findable past.
Born in Birmingham in 1974, Richard Hughes lives and works in London.
Selected solo shows include: The Modern Institute, Glasgow, 2008, KEEP ON ONNIN’, Sculpture Court, Tate Britain, London, 2006; and What a Dude’ll Do, Nils Staerk, Copenhagen, 2005.
Selected group shows include: Life on Mars - 55th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 2008; Variable Capital, Bluecoat Gallery,
Liverpool, 2008; Des Hughes/ Richard Hughes, Michael Benevento, Los Angeles, 2008; Living London, 176, London, 2008; All Inclusive. A Tourist World, Schirn
Kunsthalle, Zurich, 2008; Clarke and McDevitt Present: Expect Nothing, Gallery For One, Dublin, 2007; The Zabludowicz Collection, Baltic Centre for
Contemporary Art, Gateshead, 2007; Summer Show, Nils Staerk, Copenhagen, 2007; re-dis-play, Kunstverein Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 2007; Drawing 2007, The
Drawing Room, London, 2007; Liverpool Biennial 2006 – Sleep of Ulro, A Foundation: The Furnace, Liverpool, 2006; Among The Ash Heaps And
Millionaires, Ancient & Modern, London, 2006.
"One Man’s Struggle to Take it Easy"
26th November - 10th January 2009
Preview: Tuesday 25th November, 6pm - 8pm
The Modern Institute at Sadie Coles HQ
Monday - Friday 10.00am - 6.00pm, Sat 12noon - 5.00pm
Free admission
The Modern Institute is pleased to announce the solo exhibition by Richard Hughes ‘One Man’s Struggle to Take it Easy.’
Conceived in the lexicon of suburban realism Hughes’ work replicates the familiarity of a built environment - walls, bicycles, posters: all of the visual markers lining the average walk home through a British suburb. While the work appears found it is in fact constructed - the wall is made from polystyrene, the bicycle is recast, and the banner is made in fibreglass, each exemplifying an intended specificity.
Partially obscuring our view and our means into the gallery lies the wall sculpture, a head-high replica of the screening normally used to disguise external bins or ornament garden sheds. Looking closely we realise the wall spells out ‘WHY DO I DO THIS EVERYDAY?’ he graffiti emblazoned on the M40 commuter route into London. The act being done and the person intended to be asking themselves the question are left unknown as only the approximal value of the sculptures forms hints at a presence: the mossy teddy bear, and the rusty bike parts all suggest a value once belonging to someone.
The ambiguities of the entry and exit point to the exhibition contribute to the sense of making one’s way through a darkened passageway where a heightened sense of sentimentality and longing for the past emerge amongst the fragmented debris of daily life. As we step beyond the floor-based sculpture, a folded banner merely revealing the number 40, we are confronted with a torn rainbow. The top layer, the blue reverse of posters has been torn back to reveal a spectrum of colour. In more than one sense this becomes like the act of pealing back the layers of memory and time to reveal the nucleus of positivity and happiness once held in the precious, yet disposable objects on display: objects that having been rendered sculptures, are testament to a lost but findable past.
Born in Birmingham in 1974, Richard Hughes lives and works in London.
Selected solo shows include: The Modern Institute, Glasgow, 2008, KEEP ON ONNIN’, Sculpture Court, Tate Britain, London, 2006; and What a Dude’ll Do, Nils Staerk, Copenhagen, 2005.
Selected group shows include: Life on Mars - 55th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 2008; Variable Capital, Bluecoat Gallery,
Liverpool, 2008; Des Hughes/ Richard Hughes, Michael Benevento, Los Angeles, 2008; Living London, 176, London, 2008; All Inclusive. A Tourist World, Schirn
Kunsthalle, Zurich, 2008; Clarke and McDevitt Present: Expect Nothing, Gallery For One, Dublin, 2007; The Zabludowicz Collection, Baltic Centre for
Contemporary Art, Gateshead, 2007; Summer Show, Nils Staerk, Copenhagen, 2007; re-dis-play, Kunstverein Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 2007; Drawing 2007, The
Drawing Room, London, 2007; Liverpool Biennial 2006 – Sleep of Ulro, A Foundation: The Furnace, Liverpool, 2006; Among The Ash Heaps And
Millionaires, Ancient & Modern, London, 2006.