Andy Hughes learned to surf whilst an art student in South Wales. His art focuses on the littoral zone and the
politics of plastic waste. His photographs are preoccupied with the ‘thing-ness’ of plastic, watery worlds and
coastal habitatsand include recent ventures into gamification, ruinology and poetry.
His practice draws on philosophy, literature, art and film, includingarchival film, as well as interfacing with
scientific research.He is interestedin radical conceptions of materialism and the implications this has for politics,
ecology and the everyday way we think of others, the world, and ourselves.
He was one of three artists and international scientistsinvited to Alaska to join the world's first ocean art and
science expedition responding to and interpretthe issue of marine/coastal/ocean plastic pollution.
His groundbreaking book Dominant Wave Theory presents the first complete photographic study of plastic and human waste washed ashore along the coasts of Europe and the USA. It contains expert commentary by world leading experts including Dr Richard Thompson OBE, and Chris Hines MBE. Published by Booth-Clibborn Editions [London] and Abrams [New York].
‘Very few directors have tackled the complex relationship between environmental issues and digital games. With Plastic Scoop, Andy Hughes makes that connection painfully manifest. By appropriating both the aesthetics of video games and the language of vintage promotional videos and other archival material, à la Adam Curtis, Hughes reminds us that we have become aliens to our own planet’.
Matteo Bittanti / Gamescenes.org
Andy Hughes recently returned to England after living on the tiny island of Gapado in South Korea. Nominated by Clarrie Wallis [Director of Turner Contemporary] he worked for six months as an artist in residence. Artworks created were entangled with various notions of the real, the surreal, surfaces, the ocean, circulatory systems, plastic waste and energy.
Please view this link for more information
http://gapadoair.com/en/about.php
