| Old tobacco tins and cigar boxes, ancient calipers, even model cars
of 1920's vintage: These are Manuel Hughe's subjects and since he paints
them as if they were the crown jewels found under an attic skylight, it
is no surprise to learn that while the artist counts the Flemish and Dutch
schools of still life as well as the early Richard Diebenkorn and Jasper
Johns among his influences, Walter Murch is the painter he most admires.
Still, a typical Murch image, though it has the look of a dismembered
radio covered with dust, resists identification while the mass produced
ingredients of a Hughes still life are immediately recognizable. An artist
whose work is in the collections of many American museums, notably the
Whitney, Hughes says that he aims to make art that reflects his own time.
And he succeds, for what could be more characteristic of the present than
nostalgia for the past? |
