Exhibition

Their Egos Will Lead Them To This Future

10 May 2022 – 2 Jul 2022

Regular hours

Wednesday
15:00 – 21:00
Thursday
15:00 – 21:00
Friday
15:00 – 21:00
Saturday
15:00 – 21:00
Sunday
12:00 – 18:00
by appointment
Monday
12:00 – 18:00
by appointment

Free admission

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London
England, United Kingdom

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  • London Bridge
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Their Egos Will Lead Them To This Future marks Jack Hughes' first London Solo Show. A painting exhibition centered around Greek Mythology.

About

Their Egos Will Lead Them To This Future presents a body of painting stemming from the central work entitled Rejection Of The Gods, depicting Bellerophon falling from Pegasus, as he attempted to fly to Mount Olympus to join the Gods; where he felt he belonged. The story of Bellerophon is one of many Greek legends centred around man's ego and sense of entitlement. Hughes’ painting is a showcase of these ancient Greek figures, their attempts to take fate into their own hands and the punishments aligning their arrogance.

Man's lust for power will forever be a topic of legend and the contemporary. The Greeks setting a timeless and compelling standard for telling tales of such characters. Even Hughes’ choice of analogous monsters brings very current light to an imbalance born from ego, ambition, and cultural imbalance. Using bold colours and gestural brush marks, Hughes interprets these myths as vivid, dreamy paintings representing the triumphant highs and the fatal lows of these protagonists.

Through these themes Hughes humbly furthers the understanding of his own practice, attempting to create work that resembles the feeling of experiencing a dream in his signature style. Some figures become a part of the underpainting, taking a more background role in the composition, the surrounding landscapes dominating the foreground via refined mark-making and stronger application of paint.

Also representative of how man and his actions are shrouded in mystery and hearsay in these legends, the figures of these tales being enigmas of myth and oral storytelling; whilst the landscapes they are set in are permanent. Attainable locations still lived today, still setting new lore.

Hughes’ barer landscapes, inspired by ancient descriptions of the Aegean Sea’s coast, also comment on the indomitable beauty of natural world, stoic in the face of man’s foibles. Hughes subtly showcases the temporality of the mortal ego through storytelling - consider the passage of time from early Grecian Mythology to the present day - contrasted by the host, the landscape, telling tales for generations far beyond the scope of any iconic hero. Acting the eternal constant beyond good and evil, morality and ego.

Jack Hughes

Jack Hughes (b. 1997, Wales) is a London based painter who gained his BA in Fine Art from Bournemouth University in 2018. Hughes’ paintings are characterised by bold under-painting and contrasting colours. The artist creates saturated landscapes and figurative works depicting dreams and memories, drawing inspiration beyond his isolated rural upbringing from cinema, classical painting and narrative literature. Jack's work has been shown across the UK by galleries inc. Blue Shop Cottage, Rise Art, Huxley Parlous, D Contemporary and Gonzo Unit in Thessaloniki, Greece. Hughes’ work can be found in collections in North America, New Zealand, Greece and throughout Europe. 

What to expect? Toggle

CuratorsToggle

Jack Trodd

Exhibiting artistsToggle

Jack Hughes

Taking part

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