Bio

Hugh, a native of Dallas, Texas was born into an artistic family. His father, being a painter/sculptor was trained at the Arts Students League while his mother was an actor on the New York stage. His first formal training in painting at ten years of age was with Arthur Chapman Kelly in Dallas.

After his father died suddenly Hugh enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the age of 17, served in Viet Nam from 1967 through 1968, with an honorable discharge in 1971. He continued his formal education at the Dallas County Community Colleges and North Texas State University, as well as the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Hugh’s first solo exhibit was in Dallas at the H.B. Abbey Gallery in 1972, followed by the solo exhibits at the Eastfield Gallery in 1976 and 1978. Group exhibits in Texas include the Nave Museum, Laguna Gloria Museum, Childersloft, Trinity University and Mountain View College galleries.

After receiving an award from the Texas Fine Arts Association for a nude painted in 1980; a controversy over a refusal to display this same awarded piece caused Hugh to move to New York City to pursue his craft in an international market.

He established a studio in Hell’s Kitchen from 1980 through 1986, displayed works at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park in November 1981 and his most recent works were chosen to be displayed in “Tracers” a group exhibit held in the Judy Caden Gallery in Tribeca in 1981. In 1982, a group exhibit called “Our Gang” was held at the LaMama Gallery in the East Village. Other New York shows include:

First Nationwide Bank: Stevens Towers, NYC in 1983

Manuel Garza, LTD Studio, NYC in 1985

Golden Egg Gallery: Dallas, Texas in 1986

Although Hugh paints primarily in oils these days, he is experienced in acrylic and other medium as well. His work is rich in color and expression with subject matter as diverse as the human figure to oil tankers in harbor. He paints from nature and what he sees around him, treating industrial images and architecture as much a part of that nature as an apple or a tree. Hugh’s powerfully rendered portraits have been described as “aggressive”. Yet people who live with them find that they become very much a part of their lives. Aside from portraits and figures his current works include the Townhouses of East 95^th Street and Oil tankers in New Haven harbor.

He currently resides in New York City and Connecticut with studios in Harlem and Connecticut.

Hugh Sullivan’s works are in numerous private collections throughout the United States, Mexico and Denmark.

Artist's Statement

Portraits and figure paintings are one of my favorite motifs. A good portrait is one that not only captures part of the specific human but also makes a statement about humanity. This again need not be a conscious attempt on my part to make a statement, but one that evolves in the process of painting and may not even be understood by me for some time.

Nudes are even more specific about humanity. You strip away their individuality with their clothing and what you have left is man’s image of himself at a specific time in a specific culture. Paintings are very truthful. They tend to tell the truth in spite of the painter…the process will reveal that which was not consciously intended but what is beyond the consciousness; transcendental. Paintings at their best are transcendental objects.

Primarily the paintings are about the paint. The paint, its application, color and combinations of color transcends any conscious plan I start with…and in the struggle to join the paint with the drawing and the idea without subjugating any one to the other; a work evolves. If it survives the struggle and isn’t compromised by lack of will; it may have a vitality which is the real purpose of my work. To create a thing with a vital life of its own, almost in spite of me rather than because of me.

When I am truly in touch with what I strive for… the work is done through me rather than by me and I am thrilled and humbled at the same time.

Hugh Sullivan