Statement / Bio

www.amandahughen.com

Statement
In my work, I layer geometric shapes until the rigid forms reach a critical mass, creating a release of energy, an uncontrolled, viral growth, like a scientific experiment gone awry, or a Frankenstein flower that emerges out of a landfill.

I trace geometric shapes from plastic architectural templates, then attempt to mimic that shape, juxtaposing tool-assisted marks (templates, rulers, or screenprinting) with freehand drawing, painting, and routing. I work in pen, pencil, ink, and acrylic paint, allowing the gradual build-up of rigid forms and straight lines to create layers of depth and movement.

Pushing the boundaries of drawing and painting is central to my project. I consider an entire object, not just the surface of a work, utilizing incision, protrusion, and transparency, revealing the object’s insides and depth. I work on both sides of translucent Mylar, and digging into the layers of plywood panels.

The reality of the everyday California landscape — urban gridlock and mass-produced housing — is very different from the idealized western landscape of unfettered space. This duality of the natural and the synthetic, as well as of the unique and the mass-produced, is primary in both the formal and conceptual aspects of my work.

Bio
Amanda Hughen is a visual artist who has exhibited internationally, including Ampersand International Arts, a.o.v., the Berkeley Art Museum, the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, the San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries, and White Columns. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at the DeYoung Museum of Art, the Headlands Center for the Arts, and Yaddo, as well as a National Endowment for the Arts Scholar. She has served as the Chair of the the Advisory Board of the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, and has been a guest lecturer at Colby College, California College of the Arts, the Townsend Center for the Humanities, and Washington and Lee University, among other places. Hughen received a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from Washington and Lee University in Virginia, and a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from University of California, Berkeley, where she was awarded a full Block Grant Fellowship and the Eisner Prize.