The Wonky, Nude World of Daragh Hughes

Last week, this video circled 'round the office. I thought Daragh Hughes's ability to create massive nudes out of seemingly random brushstrokes was brilliant enough on its own, but then I realized he was related to one of us, and had to interview him because at VICE we're all massive, nepotistic narcissists-by-proxy.

Daragh has an exhibition opening this Thursday at the Sebastian Guinness Gallery in Dublin. It's called Black and White, and you should go, because he's pretty adamant that it's gonna be his last one.

I picked up the phone to try to convince him that he's too great a painter to be such an idiot.

VICE: Hi Daragh, how’s your show coming along?
Daragh Hughes: It’s coming along fine, but the past weeks have been pretty hectic. What would you say the show is about?
It’s about elemental human concerns—sex, death, truth, beauty, tragedy, sorrow, and suffering. Anything that I think has resonance now and will also have resonance outside of this specific cultural context. The nude seems the perfect subject for that, as it’s been the core of art throughout history. The body is the central fact of human existence. It has always been and will always be something that everybody can identify with.

I was pretty impressed by the video I saw of you gradually creating a torso from what seemed, at first, to be totally random brushstrokes. How do you do it?
The earlier chaotic marks are really just a case of trying to find the edges. Each layer gets a little bit closer to reality until you get right down to the final layer, by which point you know where everything should be. Eventually, the thing starts to look right, and all those failed marks and corrections give it its character. If I'm too careful, I end up with a very dull painting. I developed this technique from doing life drawing where there simply isn't the time to get everything correct on the first mark. Your brother Dylan told me you used to draw characters on the inside covers of your Tintin books, and that their arms came out of the hips instead of the shoulders. Did you draw them that way on purpose?
I was about four then, so I guess it was accidental.

You still draw sort of wonky.
I believe there is something closer to the reality of the body in these awkward forms than direct realism can give you. Sometimes you can make a mark that is more truthful, even though it's less correct. Where do you draw your inspiration from?
I look at a lot of classical Greek sculpture and renaissance and baroque painting. This is a way of identifying what it is that has a trans-historical and cross-cultural value. Would you say you’re anti-modern?
I wouldn't say I was anti-modern but my work is something of a rebuttal to the postmodern assertion that everything is fragmented and meaningless. I believe the postmodern resolve to find the world and culture fragmented and meaningless has made the world and culture fragmented and meaningless. In those fragments I see truths and wholes and the work is an attempt to draw something timeless and universal from the ephemeral, fragmented waste of contemporary visual culture.

I take it contemporary art isn’t your cup of tea, then?
The focus on concept above aesthetics has produced some shockingly ugly work. It seems that it doesn't matter how you paint, so long as there is a clever concept propping it up. The problem is that, because these people can't paint, their concept is rarely evident in their paintings, so you get referred to an accompanying written statement. To my mind, if I can’t get the meaning directly from the image itself, it’s not good visual art. I think contemporary art generally tends toward the trivial, banal, and esoteric. This is presumably an effect of the postmodern refusal to take life seriously. I think I know what you mean. Your brother wanted me to ask you why you no longer wear those awesome classic suits with waistcoats that you always used to wear?
The dry cleaning bills were through the roof. I can imagine. He also said you'll stop painting and get a normal job if you don't make it as an artist before you turn 30, which is in two months.
I was probably being a little melodramatic there, but I guess what I meant was that I was unlikely to continue creating professional, quality work if I was going to be an amateur. I am feeling a bit more positive now. Hopefully this show will lead to more shows. Fingers crossed! If you would like to keep Daragh in the art business, why not pop by Dublin sometime between March 23 – April 22, to check out his show Black and White at the Sebastian Guinness Gallery, 42 Dawson Street.

Previously: The Eyemazing World of Charlie Roberts