James Hugonin

James Hugonin was born in Barnard Castle, County Durham in 1950. He studied at Winchester School of Art (1970-1), West Surrey College of Art and Design (1971-4) and Chelsea School of Art (1974-5). He had a number of one-person exhibitions in the 1980s and was included in the group exhibitions The Presence of Painting (1988, South Bank Centre touring exhibition), The Experience of Painting (1989, South Bank Centre touring exhibition) and New North: New Art from the North of England (1990, Tate Gallery Liverpool and tour). More recently, he has held solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery (1991), the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (1993) and Kettle's Yard, Cambridge (1996). He will also have an exhibition at Tate Gallery St Ives in 1997.

Hugonin lives and works in Northumberland. His studio is situated at the foot of the Cheviots in a building he designed himself. The surrounding landscape, and his experience of it, are critical to his painting. Hugonin has described how it is 'important for me to go out on the hills and just look at, and be absorbed by, real light and real things' (quoted in Michael Collier, 'James Hugonin', in exhibition catalogue, New North: New Art from the North of England, Tate Gallery Liverpool 1990, p.28).

Further reading:
James Hugonin, exhibition catalogue, Serpentine Gallery, London 1991 (essay by Mel Gooding)
Martin Collier, 'James Hugonin', in New North: New Art from the North of England, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery Liverpool 1990, pp.28-9
Martin Kemp, 'The Beholder's Share', in James Hugonin, exhibition catalogue, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge 1996

Michela Parkin
June 1997

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