Jane Hughes Visual Artist

Artist Statement:

My art practice involves the investigation of place. I am interested in the alternative use of spaces and materials in a manner which does not obey traditional parameters, but rather allows for experimentation, innovation, errors, deliberate chaos, and the rejection of uniformity. In my work, the end product of a perfect image is not the priority, but rather the outcome of multiple processes of overlap, integration and mutation, which allow for a continual possibility of discovery.

The series Attachments 1 originated in photographic documentation of structures in Berlin which were unrenovated, derelict or otherwise under construction. There is an attraction in the imperfections of these locations: in the multitude of uneven surfaces and textures, in the cumulative effects of neglect, and in the implications of memory and nostalgia in the traces left behind. I am intrigued by the potential of strategies of re-use and reinvention, and the process of completing the work in this series involved repurposing scrap wallpaper, plaster boards and other remnants discarded in the interiors of the structures as material for use in the work. Likewise, the series Attachments 2 is based on reintegrations of documentary images taken in Iceland, reflecting the implicit rawness and ‘imperfection’ of the vast range of surfaces and textures which permeate the ice, glaciers and lava fields of the Icelandic landscape.

In presentational terms, the Attachments series involves the use of layers in an experimental process combining montage, sculpture and digital photography: the pieces prioritise methods of obfuscation, revelation and reconstruction. Through blurring the lines between media, the otherwise-reproducible digital photograph becomes central to a quasi-sculptural piece which resists reproducibility. The layers in the work protrude through the boundaries of the conventional frame, giving a voice to raw, vulnerable and rough edges and avoiding linear convention, and an emphasis is placed on the relationship between material, surface and subject matter.

Upcoming Exhibitions and Events:

Vereslihalla
A collaborative installation with Finnish artist Kaisa Salmi
koti.welho.com/ksalmi/
Galleria Kandela
Kellosaarenkadun ja Lansisatamankadun kulma
Helsinki 00180
22.2.-9.3.2010
www.galleriakandela.net

House with a Changing Face
A project to design and build an environmental art piece for the facade of the Finnish Institute London
8.5-8.8.2010
www.finnish-institute.org.uk

48 Hours Neukolln festival
Werkstadt e.V, Berlin
25.6-27.6.2010
www.48-stunden-neukoelln.de
www.werkstadt-berlin.com/

Details:
Estranged Relations features on Some Blind Alleys, an online journal for New Irish Writing and Visual Art - December 2009 Issuse
www.someblindalleys.com/index.php/category/visual-art/
Estranged Relations was installed at Ptarmigan Gallery, Nilsiänkatu 10 in Helsinki
2-12.12. 2009.
www.ptarmigan.fi/en/artists
, Interview at Made in Berlin, in the State Gallery of Kaliningrad May 2009
www.vimeo.com/janehughes/videos
,
Jane Hughes is currently studying her MA in environmental art at Taik, Helsinki, Finland.
www.taik.fi/en

. MORE UPDATES AND IMAGES OF NEW WORK COMING SOON IN FEB 2010...

Contact:

info [at] janehughes [dot] ie