Des Hughes - Des Hughes

The first comprehensive monograph on this British artist,
presenting over a decade of work.

A witty, dark and sensitive humour runs through Des Hughes's work, delivered in a
seemingly deadpan tone. His practice is an obsessive, physical enquiry into the traditions
of sculpture, rethinking conventional sculptural methods and materials. Nothing is as it
first appears; crudely modelled clay is meticulously cast in resin but, with the inclusion
of marble dust, it could have been either carved and polished from a block of stone
or fashioned from a piece of chewing gum. He collects, he dismembers, he puts things
back together in fragments, or leaves pieces in an unfinished state - or just leaves them
in pieces. He is a Surrealist de nos jours. At the same time, there is always a tender
acknowledgment of the twentieth-century modernist canon of sculpture, and of the
fragile heroism inherent in the handmade object. Alongside this sculptural work, textiles
have also become a particularly potent aspect of his practice. While time-consuming,
his embroidering looks spontaneous, like a hastily handwritten scrawl. His cross-stitch
is self-taught and has a distinctly amateur and cartoonish appearance; raw edges and
wonky lines of text give his own samplers a homespun quality.


In this compelling book, Hughes leads the reader through the passages of his
creative mind, offering a commentary on his most significant works. Texts by Stephen
Feeke, Harry Thorne and Bruce Haines respond to particular aspects of the practice.
The result is the first comprehensive monograph on the quiet revolutionary at the heart
of contemporary sculpture.