Erin Hughes studio visit
Erin Hughes | b 1989 British visual artist based in London and Wales
2018 MFA, Royal College of Art
2012 BA, Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University
2009 Foundation, Oxford Brookes University
Have you always known you wanted to pursue art as a career?
Yes, since pretty early in my childhood. My mum is a nurse and my dad is an Mechanical Engineer, I don't know what they did but my brother and I both ended up choosing really creative avenues (he’s a professional magician!). I’ve always been quite narrowly focused on pursuing art as a career. I only did two A-levels; art and textiles. It was a time of pure teenage adrenaline, not sleeping many hours but producing ridiculous numbers of sketchbooks.
Hillside 5, Hand-cut hand--marbled paper, black ink, mounted on white cartridge paper, 360 x 290 mm
How would you describe your practice?
I make intricate, hand-cut collages, developing from my interest in using fake marble laminates. I’ve recently learnt how to make my own hand-marbled papers, playing with the craft of pietre-dure to construct collages that emulate stone-inlaid images. I’m inspired by: the marble floor at Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice, B&Q, Windows 95 screen savers, William Morris, Julian Opie’s early works, self-mocking comedy and the parallax effect.
Are there any lessons you learned prior to your foundation that you still use today?
In order to feel confident using processes of making you have to spend a lot of time playing around with materials; seeing or working out how things stick or fit together. All my early experiments were very useful in building up this knowledge. I experimented with any and every technique, things like North American Smocking or random techniques; I would stuff each pocket of a sheet of bubble wrap with debris and glitter to build up pictures.
Do you have any obsessions or rituals?
I am pretty obsessed with the parallax effect. Taking long journeys each month gives me plenty of time to indulge in this visual delight! I like playing with the idea of moving forward or towards something with repeating horizons in my work… I should also say that I am always cutting things out and even have a calloused finger from my love of using a scalpel! I think it may be an obsession, but it feels so normal to me!
Do you use an image as a basis for your pieces?
Yes, I used to work from collections of magazines. I would get an entire stack of Essen Und Trinken or Men’s Health or Elle Decoration, and I would go through the entire 12-year collections of magazines and cut up thousands of images. Then I would lay them all out on the floor and I would start grouping the images together to find reoccurring formats, patterns or motifs. I was always looking for the most constructed image, the common denominator.
Then I started experimenting with Google Image search to do that process for me. The higher up the image is on a google image search, the closer it is connected to the current moment of culture and economy. I select the images very quickly; I then spend a very long time making the work. I think there is a redemptive spirit to that as a way of processing these weird images around us. I don't know how else to understand what an image is other than trying to work with it somehow and cut it out. It is a way of understanding it. Using Google image search in this way also helps me feel like I’m actually making Google work for me instead of the other way around!
Hillside 3, Hand-cut hand--marbled paper, black ink, mounted on white cartridge paper, 388 x 292 mm
Tell me about the antique shop which you curate exhibitions for.
I highly recommend anyone to visit Robert Young Antiques, it’s always full of incredible objects. They are at the top of their game in terms of folk art and vernacular furniture, everything there is unusually charming and unique. Contemporary Collaborations is the project I run there where I invite contemporary artists to select items from the RYA collection to be incorporated into an artwork or installation to be displayed in the front window of the gallery. We have had some incredible results so far, recently with Rosie Reed’s installation ‘The Grandmothers’ which imaginatively created worlds for the antique toys in the collection to be housed in! Each artist responds to completely different aspects of the collection, it’s an exciting project to work on and a truly magical place.
Killin it, Hand-cut hand-marbled paper, black archival ink, archival glue, birch plywood, 500 x 700mm
Your studio is in Wales, is that where you are from?
I had never lived in Wales before moving there recently but coincidently my father is Welsh, his side of the family lived on the same farm in Anglesey for around 400 years. We spent most family holidays roaming Anglesey, so I feel a strong connection to Wales.
Do you work full-time from Wales?
For most of the month my partner James and I live up a hill in Wales; it is so remote that our letter box is a mile from where we live. This is when I am most focused on making my work. For ten days each month we come back to London. I organise this time between Cypher Billboard/ Contemporary Collaborations meetings, studio visits, seeing shows, etc mainly spending my time plugged in.
“Driving into London you start picking up the haze of excitement and stress in the air. The constant contrast between the two paces of life makes you appreciate each 10 times more.”
For artists considering a move away from a city like London, from your experience what advice would you give?
If you are thinking of moving out of London, I say do it! Moving out has given me the time and headspace to concentrate on my work and I also feel a lot healthier. If you want to leave London but have a fear of missing out, my advice would be visit London regularly. Going back for about one weekend a month is all you need. I’d also recommend setting up regular get-togethers whilst you’re in London, a monthly book club or a group crit, whatever it is, make it regular and you’ll still feel connected. For better or worse social media has eroded the necessity to physically be in the city full-time.
What is your daily routine in the studio?
I tend to get up quite early, I always have coffee then I go straight to the studio and start cutting things out. We live halfway up a hill and every day I go to the bottom of the hill and walk back to the top. This daily walk helps me think about my work; I like the metaphor of going down to the bottom of an idea, fighting up to the top before finding a balance. James goes to his workshop which is about 25 minutes-drive away, so I am mostly on my own which helps me focus.
“At first it was quite intense, I wasn’t used to being on my own so many hours a day. Now I appreciate it and have learned to value it.”
You work on several other projects as well as your art, talk to me about Cypher Billboard.
I co-run Cypher Billboard alongside Holly Graham and Amba Sayal-Bennett. We invite artists to produce a site-specific artwork to be displayed on the Domino Houses billboard in Bounds Green, London. Each artist also has a corresponding event held in the local area. These events can be anything that relates to the artwork; film screenings, readings, karaoke or performance. The programme this year has been incredibly exciting and we were thrilled to have been awarded arts council funding for a second time. We also do lots of off-site projects; we’re currently planning a couple of group shows, one in Deli and one in Athens, opening next year.
If you had 4 weeks to train me in your craft, how would you go about it?
I would order a pack of 2000 blades and get a new cutting mat. I would create a running programme of interesting podcasts for you to listen to whilst you’re cutting out. I would ask you to look out of windows whenever you were travelling.. Cut out loads of pictures and match them together in groups. I like the physical working, the making and looking at repetition, looking closely at images.
I think there is a redemptive spirit to that as a way of processing these weird materials around us. I don't know how else to understand that this is a material rather than try to work with it somehow and cut it out. It is a way of understanding it.
What podcasts do you listen to regularly and recommend to friends?
I listen to a lot of podcasts, firstly I would like to make a shout out to Skelf Podcast by Mark Beldan, episode 3 features Holly Graham, Amba Sayal-Bennett and myself talking all things Cypher Billboard! I’ve also been recommending ‘The Digital Human’ a very well researched and engaging podcast about different ways technology is affecting us.
'Season of the Bitch'. It is a feminist, socialist podcast which has a great episode on labour in the art world. I also used to love 'Counterpunch' with Eric Draitser, Democracy Now and Novara Media. BBC Arts and Ideas podcast is the one I’ve listened to the longest, for that past 15 years!
Are you in London and interested in organising artist studio visits and discovering the active emerging art scene?