Art has become a ‘forum’ through which I visually analyze the predicaments of humanity such as war, violence and tragedy. Our beliefs, occupations, destiny and how they affect our relationship with fellow human beings, continues to intrigue and inspire me to work.
Born after the Gold Coast, now Ghana received its independence from Britain, I was brought up and educated in a postcolonial environment. My experiences through boarding school, and growing up in four major cities of Ghana: Accra, Sekondi-Takoradi, Cape Coast and Kumasi have shaped the narrative of my art. The psychological effects of Ghanaian superstition, religion, feuds, tragedies, rituals, and urban iconography, all existing under a cosmopolitan umbrella have influenced me. I have come to appreciate the beauty of my own culture in addition to other cultures for the purpose of creative development.
My paintings are composed with fragments of recognizable imagery transformed by memory, imagination, and material properties into metaphoric constructions. Animal and human body parts, commercial iconography, symbols and signs are woven into my compositions. The paintings incorporate mixed-media such as acrylics, oils, enamels, latex, dimensional fabric paints in addition to found materials. The surfaces of the paintings are often built up with several layers of paint, through various evolutions of imagery till a convincing picture emerges.
My three dimensional works are often created from found objects reconfigured into hybrids often exhibited as site specific installations or as individual objects.
My performances reference through interdisciplinary media and collaborations with other artists the nature of our daily routines and obsessions. Ritual, audio-visual improvisations, music, dance, makeup, robotic/remote controlled toys and painting feature extensively in my performance work.
The works on this website are a selection of work done since the mid 1990s to the present.
Contact: gohughes@gmail.com