Shara Hughes Interview: Changing the Way We See

The fast-rising American artist Shara Hughes is widely praised for her vividly coloured invented landscape paintings. We met Hughes in her New York-studio to talk about drawing inspiration from other painters, and why she feels that a good painting is about “going to the edge and not giving away all the answers.”
Early on, Hughes referenced other paintings in her work, trying to figure out what kind of painter she wanted to be and learning from her mistakes. She still embraces these allusions to other painters - such as David Hockney - that come up in her work: “It’s gonna be a mix-mashup because it’s almost impossible not to have some kind of reference.” Hughes uses many different techniques when painting and doesn’t choose a specific colour scheme in advance, waiting to see how it will all unfold: “I’m always trying to do something I’ve never seen before with comparison to my own paintings.” She feels that her landscape paintings are almost placeless, and she was initially attracted to doing them because it made her think that she didn’t “need the subject matter as much as I needed to make the painting.” In her flower painting-series, she continues, the flowers become more like self-portraits or portraits of other people or crowds: “It adds a little bit of narrative to the work, but it’s still not enough to make you feel you have to understand something to look at the painting.” In contrast to the beautiful and delicate way in which flowers are usually depicted, she continues, her flowers are active and aggressive: “I’m embracing the idea of changing the way we see something.”
Shara Hughes (b. 1981) is an American painter, who is particularly known for her colourful invented landscapes. In 2017, Hughes was included in the Whitney Biennial, and her works are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, the Denver Art Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C., the Si Shang Art Museum in Beijing, and the St. Louis Art Museum, among others. Solo exhibitions include the Arts Club in London, The Newport Art Museum, Gallery Met at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. She lives and works in New York City.
Shara Hughes was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at her studio in Brooklyn, New York in April 2019.
Camera: Jakob Solbakken
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Edited by: Klaus Elmer
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2019
Supported by Nordea-fonden
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[@playinfornone9110]

What an authentic and warm Person. I love her paintings !

[@lisengel2498]

I really appreciate the viewpoint of creating freely in the process and combing all kinds of techniques, impressions and experiences. Great way of walking into the unknown and sharing the painting of worlds of all kinds of feelimg

[@tonsfocus]

Love her approach and sense of her work. I thought a bit of Hockney's recent landscapes, but I find Shara's more dynamic and risk-taking. She's got so much wonderful variety between paintings. Thanks so much for another great video!

[@carlmcsandwich9554]

you should check out Matthew Wong

[@LunaSmithArt]

I love Shara Hughes, you can freedom in her paintings. Very inspiring.

[@joshuadavis6544]

Agree, chaotic, colorful and inspiring art.

[@sheilagrayman7147]

These paintings are wonderfully moving. Absolutely, abundant.❤

[@dustyeyer3573]

Great video, artist studio videos are always a good idea! Thank you

[@marypartridge5154]

So many painters paint paintings that really all look the same. This lady like I have has the gift of composing and each one is different. A bit like the Beatles whose songs were always different. I believe this is a gift and cannot be learned. As painters really just copy photographs or still life. Few compose variety that comes from the imagination.😊😊

[@robcarew5925]

Thankyou Shara for your great words. Beautiful images.

[@davypaul9827]

as someone that went into business and sales for the first few chapters in my life,. But always loving art and very strong "What if" feelings, I had a major life intersection, as it does to us. Although, it was more of a rotary with just a constant circling of "shit" goin down, haha. The largest was my fathers passing. I was really knocked on my ass by it. Anyway, I went rogue, and left the Biz world, with everyone saying your nuts, etc. and starting going through every medium I have always liked. Startying with my plants, but Trees and training Bonsai trees, which lead to Geology and sculpture and making rock decor, and varius other pathways, and now into Oil. I will dabble in others, but oil feels like home. All this said, i connected with her on wanting to use all mediums and not sure what i am going to be known for, if at all.

[@treppenhauer4643]

Great interview. Thanks a lot. I particularly like the idea of the painting doing something to herself instead of the other way round. She's not giving all the answers, she said. Why should she.

[@unchartedthickets]

I really liked her work at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis. I was fascinated by the monotypes in particular. I am a printmaker by training which I feel gave me the insight of the intense balancing act Shara accomplishes with her work. I felt it much more so with the monotypes because fixes are almost nonexistent or the medium is so much more unforgiving. Their scale also amplifies the confidence I see in her work. Not sure if I'm correct in these thoughts but thats what I came away with. They're also beautiful and edgy.

[@mehrdadmohajer3847]

Enjojed. Thx🍻 i love Contemporary Art & Artist. " the old ones " no matter how GREAT , they ARE our past Self Discovery , our " OLD US " & We ARE " NOW " & that makes a big difference. We are not YET an archive😘

[@Hollysuzette33]

It was really good work and thought-provoking on so many levels. I learned something, thank you.

[@neanderthalmoments5168]

Wow interesting. Her work really is aggressive, beautiful, hopeful, and scary. Iv wondered how to do that. She does it so well. Thanks!

[@antinea21]

i love her work. and i like her, very honest. i guess true artists are honest. very interesting to me where she says about her paintings , her worlds, drawing you in ,luring you, and at the same time pushing you out. They are pleasant, attractive and intriguing but also scary and appalling. Like in the movie 'the life of Pi' where he reached that serene, weird toxic island with abundant vegetation, with all those meerkats that fed on its lush, succulent plants during the day and then during the night it all changed, the colors became poisonous toxic yellow, you could see the bones of dead meerkats that were eaten by the carnivorous plants,,, but you could only see that at night, in daylight it was all hidden....

[@blbrightlights564]

What amazing paintings,what an imaginative mind to create such wonders❤

[@lisengel2498]

It also give impressions of entering phantastic landscapes - a kind of phantastic allegories of states of consciousness

[@nathanbabble1976]

I’m sure she knows this but she is one of the most outrageously talented artists alive. I don’t think there’s almost anyone on her level. No high realism painters can match her.

[@jacobgrimaldi9585]

Huh

[@jacobgrimaldi9585]

Love the art but idk

[@r65a11]

🤣

[@mattisste9696]

master class when of the best artist ..... imagine her in 20 or 30 years later love yu shara

[@caroldrummond1389]

fascinating paintings. Enjoyed her interview also a lot.

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

What a free mind....Superb

[@marypartridge5154]

She has a lot of variety and is not trapped with one gimmick😊

[@nochnoipetux]

Her work is so beautiful!

[@sheilagrayman7147]

Amazing and so spectacular.❤

[@jennifercoralie9158]

Really good work. Extraordinary colour.

[@vladimirsimanovsky670]

nature theme make you freely inventive Shara,,,,, it's very colorful,,,, keep going on,,,, you will reach your artist goal,,,,

[@richardgibbs1527]

Thank you.

[@sugiartostudio455]

very peaceful art work... ☕️👍

[@westrain2]

Love the work

[@carlsegbefia1766]

I love the paintings

[@carlosrivas2012]

Buen dominio del color... Bravo, Shara.

[@roman2011]

Wow....original work

[@johnsmith4071]

Original work means you have no influences or started from scratch she clearly hasn’t done either but her work is very nice

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

Wow....what a confidence in herself? Great

[@andreab425]

It would be cool to see what kind of virtual reality she could compose

[@daoudaba7956]

sava

[@ArtistBrian]

Nice work ❤

[@keleniengaluafe2600]

❤❤❤❤

[@gregorylent]

cool person i often wonder, do those paintings pay the artist's way in life?

[@rudyroyval1660]

i think you need a lot of luck and support

[@drayingcley4719]

😊😊😊 🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️

[@dieseltrains2]

🌹♥♥♥♥♥great artist

[@cree8vision]

There seems to be a fine line between art that is deliberately done imperfectly and badly drawn art. I guess if critics and collectors didn't reward artists, they might have to do something a little more conventional.

[@JohnBurman-l2l]

Interesting idea there. My thought is that maybe the emotions are now the thing, so the well drawn objects would take attention back to the rational.

[@gloobnord]

I actually find her work hard to look at.

[@kastaylor01]

Yes confusion. Harsh lines big spaces of nothing.

[@jenns.5791]

I agree. her work is way too busy.

[@LaurenOliviArt]

That’s ok. It’s her expression nonetheless

[@r65a11]

Yeah, I'm just not feeling it -

[@galex6925]

Když si vymyslíte, jak by bylo dobré něco vidět, vznikne z toho maznice. To je stejné, jako když neumíte namalovat to co vidíte.

[@Emoslum]

I'm marquis Wilson I'm a contemporary artists as ❤️‍🩹 well.

[@vidyaofficersbhattarai7372]

great

[@AnjalAbdullrhman]

هذا النوع من الرسم حلو على لوح ارتفاعها من 120 وفوق

[@hermesnoelthefourthway]

"in life never do what others do, either do something no one else has done, or do nothing at all". Gurdjieff. Chapter one, Beelzebub's tales to his grandson. Over the last few decades "originality" seems to have become none exist in the "art" world. Noel. .

[@JohnBurman-l2l]

High intensity full on colour is my problem. In her work it looks good but also can be too much energy...I like her work that I can see. Talking about art is a bit silly.

[@whatthedark888]

good

[@akaHORUS2000]

so many interchangeable artists on this channel, so much bullshit, so much self indulgence and lack of deeper meaning. so much surface level. holy shit its depressing.

[@captainsouth4460]

Wahhhh

[@r65a11]

Yeah, I mean its just not coming off as authentic to me. That and everything is the same intensity - instead of a push and pull.

[@liebingf]

sweet

[@StudioYulianto]

Salam kenal

[@AkakaDomenjer]

Wonderful female world

[@normanstratford9329]

I could understand the language she uses, but there is lack of experience of life which tends to be dreamlike. This is not totally bad as art can be different and various according to the artist. The art side is corrupt with authorities and money when it deals with marketing.

[@Fau.]

Exactly, her art is creative, but it's lacks something, it just looks very flat

[@barrymak8061]

Peter doig was doing this 30 yrs ago and he stole his stick

[@jeannagai5290]

Doig painted from photos, probably projected, and often had a centralized figure, in a colorful but melancholic landscape. Hughes is vibrant, works from imaginative sketches with no figures

[@isaiasxd4453]

Nice persona

[@jenns.5791]

if this chick says "um" one more time.. FFS.. 😤

[@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631]

Rather pathetic "paintings". Too ingredients in the stew.