Shara Hughes

Shara Hughes Synopsis

The lush and chromatic "invented landscapes" of Shara Hughes

Landscapes marks the first in-depth survey of the critically acclaimed painting of Brooklyn-based artist Shara Hughes (born 1981). Hughes describes her lush, vibrantly chromatic images of hills, rivers, trees and shorelines, often framed by abstract patterning, as "invented landscapes." Full of gestural effect, surface tactility and possessing a fairytale mood of reverie, these paintings, as the New Yorker described them, "use every trick in the book to seduce, but still manage to come off as guileless visions of not-so-far-away worlds."

This book covers roughly the past four years of Hughes' career, which has proved a prolific and important period for the painter, punctuated by international solo exhibitions, biennials, public projects and museum acquisitions. It features more than 120 full-color illustrations which beautifully illuminate the artist's process and the progression of the landscape as subject matter.