Des Hughes
1970 · United Kingdom
Artist biography
Des Hughes is seen as an established mid-career artist, who originates from the United Kingdom. Des Hughes was born in 1970. Some of the artist's contemporaries that are born around the same year and in the same country include Chris Ofili, Sam Taylor-Johnson (Taylor-Wood), Chantal Joffe, Tacita Dean and David Shrigley.
Galleries and Exhibitions
Des Hughes is represented by Buchmann Box in Berlin, Germany. Des Hughes' work has most recently been displayed during the exhibition Keeper of Heads at Martin Asbæk Gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark. The exhibition was open from 27 October 2017 until 25 November 2017.
Des Hughes in private collections
On Artland Des Hughes' works can be found in the collection of Jens-Peter Brask and Richard Feaster, who for instance also has works by other artists including Jesús Herrera Martínez, Marie Kølbæk Iversen, and Hur Kyung-Ae.
Historical Context of United Kingdom
Through colonisation and the consequent ascent of its Empire, the United Kingdom reached the status of a giant, although the wealth and economic power did not shelter it from the obvious cultural supremacy of other continents and countries. With the United States on one side and its European neighbours on the other, Britain had been to a somewhat significant degree eclipsed by their respective influence on the art of the modern world. But it is towards the end of the nineteenth century that it truly became an essential and vital agent in the development of the avant-garde, through radical and progressive trends such at the Arts and Crafts Movement, which would become essential to the further development of bohemian artists movements or other artist-led organisation of the twentieth century. Vorticism is a significant movement, fundamentally characteristic of British modernism, it involved artists renowned for their association to the Bloomsbury group. A few critically acclaimed British artists of the modern and contemporary era include Stanley Spencer, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Leon Kossoff, Frank Auerbach, David Hockney, Bridget Riley and Paula Rego among others – as well as the YBA generation led by Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Marc Quinn and Chris Ofili, in more recent years.
Further Biographical Context for Des Hughes
Des Hughes was born in 1970 and was predominantly inspired creatively by the 1990s. In the United Kingdom, a group of artists known as the YBAs, or Young British Artists, dominated the artistic culture of the decade. They were a loosely affiliated and diverse group, united generally by their age and nationality. A number of the members had attended the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths in London, and were favoured by Charles Saatchi, the ‘super collector’ of art at the time. The most well-known member of YBAs is arguably Damien Hirst, and other members included Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, Marc Quinn, Gavin Turk, Sarah Lucas and Sam Taylor-Johnson (née Sam Taylor-Wood). Through their use of shock tactics and sensationalism, the YBAs gained a controversial reputation image which was further fuelled by their use of throwaway materials, wild lifestyles and an attitude that was at the same time rebellious and enterprising. The group was predominant in the British art scene in the 1990s and their group show ‘Sensation’ is now viewed as legendary. The art world was influenced by a number of trends throughout the decade, the divisive, hyper-realistic sculptures of Maurizio Cattelan and the sensitive, conceptual work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres characterised the atmosphere of the era.
- Galleries Representing this Artist
Des Hughes
- Available Artworks 0
- Artworks in Collections 2
- Exhibitions 1
