Michael McHugh: Another World
Explore the botanical dreamscape paintings of acclaimed Australian artist Michael McHugh. After several sell-out shows in Australasia this is Michael's first exhibition in Europe.
Michael McHugh’s paintings reflect an instantly familiar vision of exotic forms and nature’s exuberance, as well as a highly personal perception of subject matter. His playfulness is complemented by an abstract rationale, which breaks forms down into layered and lively
compositions of geometry, pattern, texture and colour. Works are sometimes sombre and brooding, and other times energetic, vibrantand emotive, with textural layers echoing moments in time.
McHugh maintains an active drawing practice in the planning stages which aids the compositions and techniques utilised in his large-scale paintings. His distinctive botanical language, juxtaposes hard graphic forms, against fluid painterly gesture, both of which
hang together in what has been described as a ‘riot of colour’. His process involves collage-based colour studies, in which he works with drawings, texture and pattern – breaking images apart and reforming them. McHugh pushes at the boundary between the familiar and the un-familiar, confounding expectations of scale and perspective, while merging memories and experience of the world he encounters.
‘My work reflects the deep connection I feel with the natural world.’ says McHugh. ‘Growing up I spent many hours gardening with my father, going for bushwalks and spending time at the beach playing in the sand and water. All of this gave me an appreciation early in life of the natural world around me. At times in my life now, returning to nature has calmed and heightened my senses.’ McHugh says that throughout his life, nature has provided a haven in which to lose himself in. ‘My work not only celebrates the
brilliance of nature, it also provides entry for my imagination to a world where I can reconfigure natural forms, both terrestrial and marine. This reinterpretation facilitates the creation of completely new DNA structures, a rare evolution of species from the beauty of
the natural environment.
In this, McHugh’s first European show, he has created a universe of paintings, the show titled Another World suggests not only the artist's deep connection with nature but also the hope that nature will continue to protect and provide moments of joy for us all.
