Cascade

“Undeniably more beautiful than their interior antecedents, Hughes’s lush landscapes have a tendency to pop off the canvas with their bright, vivid colors, while simultaneously belying the deep-rooted emotional undertones hidden beneath their surfaces. At times almost childlike in their aesthetic, Hughes’s landscapes combine historical styles with familiar associations, pushing the boundaries between what is real and what is imagined, and offering viewers the opportunity to step into the artist’s unique universes…Hughes’s inclusion in the 2017 Whitney Biennial supercharged an ascent that was already bubbling on the periphery of the art world for a number of years. Co-curators Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks’s decision to devote an entire gallery to her paintings—in an exhibition that has historically not always been the best platform for painting—was a major vote of confidence for a young artist. Her group of kaleidoscopic landscapes proved to be a hit with audiences and earned praise from New York Times critic Roberta Smith—who saw in them elements of Fauvism and Charles Burchfield—for their ability to ‘push natural forms toward feverish abstraction.’”
—“Inside Shara Hughes’s Soaring Market,” Artsy, 26 May 2021, online