Kyle Hughes-Odgers takes a bold new direction with his upcoming solo exhibition Between the Earth and the Moon, opening at Perth’s Turner Galleries on July 12, 2019.
Since his early career as a street artist in the 2000s, Hughes-Odgers has become an internationally recognised name, known for his major public art projects, five children’s books and gallery exhibitions. His work is held in numerous private and public art collections worldwide and his recent projects have seen him travel to all corners of the globe as part of residencies, to exhibit his works, and paint large-scale mural commissions.
In one of his many recent projects, he was invited by FORM to paint four 35-metre grain silos in Merredin as part of the PUBLIC Silo Trail project, adorning the massive structures with his recognisable spindly-limbed characters and geometric patterns.
In his upcoming exhibition, Hughes-Odgers takes a step forward from the forms that have regularly populated his artworks until now and will present seven new, major abstract paintings that are the result of his explorations into colour theory, spatial balance and visual movement. Between the Earth and the Moon will also showcase some smaller works on paper, in addition to an installation.
The foundations of the artist’s new abstract works stem from drawings created over the past two years while travelling through Iceland, Germany, Spain, Austria and regional Australia for art projects. On his travels, he started exploring smaller format work, through fast-response illustrations. Personal photographs from these trips became references for the compositions and colours on the final canvases.
In his artist statement for the show, Hughes-Odgers says, “my goal is for each individual painting to add another story or chapter in the timeline across the greater narrative/ body of work over my lifetime,” signifying that while this continues to be an extension of his past works, it also demonstrates the maturity of his practice as a visual artist.
Between the Earth and the Moon runs at Turner Galleries in Perth from 12 July to 10 August 2019.
