SHARA HUGHES

Fields of flowers, enchanted forests, and mysterious waterfalls seem as if born of a wild fever dream: gigantic flowers weave their way toward the sky like trees, plants mutate into things familiar seeming yet unknown, blazing sunsets reflect upon the water, stars glow on the horizon and bathe the landscape in their supernatural light.

Shara Hughes’s paintings (*1981, Atlanta, Georgia) trace a journey through the trials, tribulations, and jungle-like terrain of an overwhelmingly rich inner world, with motifs charged with symbolism. While some works pay homage to Georgia O’Keeffe, her expressive use of color draws above all on Fauvist approaches to landscape painting and on modern Expressionism.