Farida Hughes: Infinite Movement

Farida Hughes creates paintings and interdisciplinary artworks that are luminous expressions of interconnectedness. Abstraction is her pathway to reflect on sociological themes. In this new body of work she is focusing on finding joy with others in the simple interactions we have with nature. Bird watching, hiking on trails, and scattering and planting seeds are repeated or seasonal activities that influence the artist's recent compositions.

 Hughes’ work lies within the canon of color rich organic abstraction combined with her own interest in contemporary light art and time-based practices. Collected narratives and actual observation of human interactions influence spherical and stacked curvilinear shapes, streamlines, and a flowing composition. By mixing oil paint into epoxy resin she generates a slow build of lush, glossy surfaces, developing into moments of hiding, revealing, and merging as the underlying layers leisurely expose themselves. The artworks encourage emotional connection and participation through their vibrant palettes and glossy surfaces that change as the viewing angle changes. Hughes utilizes the fluidity, transparency, and color harmonies of her medium to guide a metaphorical subject matter of interconnectedness which is felt before it is known.

 The artworks in “Entanglement” represent a metaphoric storytelling of human to human interactions in nature. As each layered color shape is an intentional mark, they allude to the activity of painting as much as the activity that is being depicted. Isolated forms are remnants of bodies that have occupied space. Intertwined layers depicting forms moving together are metaphors for relationships and experiences, punctuated with memories that come in and out of awareness as we are involved in a moment. In considering landscape the artist contemplates our role in a shared responsibility to the earth’s ecosystems that are connected through the endless movement of air, water, minerals, and living things.