Nicholas Hughes was born in Liverpool (GB) in 1963. Although beginning to make photographs in his youth, it was not until completing a formal photographic education through a Master of Arts degree at the London College of Communication in 2002, preceded by a first class Bachelor of Arts ... Read more
Images
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Publications
Biography
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Selected Exhibitions
2009-2010
“Histories of Photography: Outstanding photographs from the permanent collection,” April 2009 – April 2010, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
2009
AIPAD NYC Photography Show, Park Ave Armory, with Nailya Alexander Gallery, New York
“British Landscape Photography,” a Photographers’ Gallery curated show at Liberty of London, Feb-March
‘photo l.a.’ International Photography Exposition, Los Angeles, January
2008
“Now and New,” the International group show at Gana Art Gallery, Busan, South Korea, August
“The Visual Path,” Nailya Alexander Gallery, New York, June - August
“Edge Verse II,” AIPAD New York with the Nailya Alexander Gallery
2008
“In Darkness Visible Verse I and II,” The Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno, North Wales, Jan – Feb
“In Darkness Visible Verse I,” Paris Photo, Le Carrousel Du Louvre, November
2007
“In Darkness Visible Verses I & II,” Featured Artist at the Photographers’ Gallery, London (Solo) Sept – Nov.
‘Lightworks’, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Dublin, Curated by Eilis Lavelle
2006
‘Passages of Time – Light, Form and Reflection’, Houston Fotofest, USA, March, curated by Wendy Waitriss
2005-2006
‘Edge Verse II’, Photographers Gallery, London, Dec 2005 – Feb 2006
2005
Paris Photo, Le Carrousel Du Louvre, Paris, Nov
‘Landscape Views & Visions’, the 5th International Photo Festival, Gana Art Centre, Seoul, Korea Sept
2004
Summer Show, Photographers Gallery Print Room, London
Jerwood Commission / Wapping project - London, Leeds Design Museum, the Jerwood Space, London. (2003 -2004)
2003
‘Souvenir’, Transition, London
‘Immaterial’ Gallery 1885 London (Solo) London Association of Photographers, Open London Fresh Art, London
‘Sense and Sensibility’ Transition London
‘Attentive’ Lounge London
2002
‘Take’ Back Hill Gallery London Nov
‘Interim’ Mirror Gallery London Feb
2001
‘Platform for art’ (London Underground) (Solo) Sept-Oct
‘Secondary Visions’-Karoo Gallery, London (solo) Sept-Oct
2000
‘Tower Block Rock’- Conningsby Gallery, London
‘View From The City’-Royal Mint, London
‘Celestial Visitations’-Gallery 1885, London (solo)
1999
‘Into The Light’- SE1 Gallery, London
1998
Suzanne Ruggles Gallery, London
‘Earthworks’- Chelsea Rooftop Gallery, London
Rebecca Hossock Gallery, Degree Show, London
Student Portrait photographer awards (winner) N.E.C. Birmingham
1997
Counter Image group show, Manchester
Quotes about the artist
“Hughes’s haunting images are an elegy to the fragility of nature and a lament for its increasingly rapid demise… With western society’s increasing desensitisation to the world around it and the overwhelming desire for the exotic and unknown, Hughes urges the viewer to think, stop and see wonderment and beauty in their immediate environment.”
Financial Times
“What Hughes is doing with both Verses of this elegy is asking us “to slow down, to find the still small voice of calm that in the darkness may yet be visible.” His luminous photographs could well be considered paintings in the sense that they are often multi-layered constructions. Yet they remain pure photography and bound by the possibilities and limitations of the medium of film and a 4 x 5 camera. Hughes is indeed writing with light as the root of the world photography implies and using the camera as one of photography’s inventors, Henry Fox Talbot, described it, as the “pencil of nature.” But challenging himself to work within traditional media, Hughes is able to extract through the silver halides, the tarnished silver beloved by Tanizaki, a luminosity of light that is life itself: spiritual, fragile, and sublime.”
Hotshoe International
“These dark brooding photographs combine an experience of pure aesthetic pleasure with an ambiguous discomfort: there is no denying the uncomplicated, flawless beauty of these works, however, lurking behind this beauty one can detect both sorrow and foreboding. One’s response is primarily emotional rather than analytical, resulting in a subjective comprehension. The horizon offers space away from crowding, space for quiet contemplation, and one is reminded that nature holds something mystical that synthetic city life does not… These works move far beyond their framed parameters.”
Artists Newsletter
“For many of us viewing art serves as the closest form of meditation in modern life….
Hughes omits and edits out the clutter of London parks to then reassemble and re-layer his exposures, producing beautiful compositions resembling ancient Arcadian forests laden with mystery and enchantment. The softness of intertwining branches echo and reverberate against the dim vaporous light source, which is sometimes visible, at other times eluding our gaze. Palettes remain subtle, yet profound, enhancing the importance of silence. ….. When reflecting on the cerebral ethereal mood of the work we are offered time to be still, just as the small pockets of greenery within London allows for calm in amongst the burdens of civilisation."
“His strong yet delicate photographs serve to show the fragility of our relationship with the natural world. […] He sees the notion of the natural world as forever vast and mysterious, quickly evaporating. By focusing on boundaries, plains and surfaces he acknowledges the existence of limits. These are images that not only speak of the infinite character of the natural world but of the finite character of the world created by human nature.”
Next Level Magazine
“Nicholas Hughes’ silent snowscapes - though vicarious, they still have something of Bachelard’s anthro-cosmic to them, enough to intimate another world to our own, one that may be wilder but is slower, quieter, silent even.”
Crude Metaphors/Hotshoe International