Accentuate the Positive; Oil on board construction 30 x 74 1/2 x 12”; 2006

Shaperspective; Oil on board construction 19 x 95 1/2 x 8”; 2006

Scott Richards Contemporary Art is proud to present the premiere San Francisco exhibition of works by Patrick Hughes, a British contemporary artist of international renown. The exhibition opens on October 4 with a reception for the artist and continues through October 31.

Positively puzzling, Patrick Hughes’ works invite the viewer to experience the relation between the self and the work of art.  Illustrating the artists’ passion for the outdoors, his love of reading and profound appreciation for beautiful 20th Century paintings, Hughes’ oeuvre creates its own sense of being.  With their rhythmical shapes and meticulously painted surfaces his witty combinations of painting and sculpture not only illustrate multiple points of view from a three-dimensional perspective but defy the senses with a dizzying sense of paradoxical motion.

Hughes’ signature “ stick – out” paintings begin their life as several trapezoidal or conical board constructions are fused together into pristine wall reliefs. The inherent repetition of each structure sets the tone for its unique theme, which is then rendered with meticulous attention. The artist utilizes linear perspective in conveying spatially correct relationships and his three-dimensional sceneries not only defy the static sense of a painting as frozen in time, but also reverse the apparent sense of perspective, where shapes that seem near are actually receding in space. This effect, referred to as perverspective in Hughes’ terms, contradicts the viewer’s perceptions by giving the impression that the paintings are moving.

SHAPERSPECTIVE presents a collection of works that are at once visually engaging and surprisingly familiar, playful ruminations on the history of art, perspective and Surrealism. Most of the paintings feature key elements in Hughes’ craft such as rectilinear forms: gallery walls, buildings, books, doorways, and works of art that serve as anchors to the reverse perspective effect. From the sexy imagery of Accentuate the Positive, a painting that pays homage to the Pop Masters, to the serene feeling of Open and Shut where Hughes mirrors Magritte’s La Grande Famillie with crisp blue skies over a mountain lake, these newest works are most noted for their complexity in conveying the concept of reverse perspective.

Patrick Hughes was born in 1939 in Birmingham, UK, and is based in London. Widely recognized as one of the major painters of contemporary British art, he is also a designer, teacher and a writer.  His works are part of many public collections including the British Library and the Tate Gallery, London, the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, the Deutsche Bibliothek, Frankfurt and the Denver Art Museum. Besides San Francisco, Hughes has exhibited in London, Seoul, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City.

More Patrick Hughes information and artwork images