The Showroom- Des Hughes - The Screaming Abdabs

Des Hughes - The Screaming Abdabs

8 October - 16 November 2003
Wednesday - Sunday 13.00 - 18.00hrs
Opening 7 October 19.00 - 21.00hrs
Gallery talk by Rob Tufnell, Curator at Kettles Yard, Cambridge, Sunday 16 November 16.00hrs.

The Showroom has commissioned London-based artist Des Hughes to make a new body of work for presentation at The Showroom between the 8th October and 16th November 2003.

Des Hughes' practice has an undeniably charming and low-fi quality. He creates detailed simulacra of mundane, everyday objects, counterbalanced by caricatures of others and occasionally the interjection of the real. These have included exact replicas of rolls of masking tape and nails, Philip Gustonesque renderings of peas and sausages, mixed with actual records and magazines. Hughes' obsessive gathering, ordering and presentation of objects suggest that his DIY aesthetic has turned into a compulsive ritual.

The juxtaposition in Hughes' work of the real and the constructed blurs the boundaries between function and fantasy for the viewer. The familiar remains recognisable, but through Hughes' system of classification and presentation of 'things', the most banal of objects are reconsidered and their own individual fascination revealed. Many of his works have the feel of being prototypes for what could become actual objects. Recently, he has created works that could be read as light fittings, seating units and occasional tables.

For The Showroom, Hughes will create a new body of work that will continue his process of reconfiguring everyday surroundings and common objects. A series of human-scale figures, constructed from cardboard tubes, will become the means of displaying the medium and smaller scale works that Hughes will make.

Des Hughes has made solo projects for Tablet Gallery and the Kate MacGarry gallery. In the past his work has also been included in group projects at Modern Art, VTO and Jeffery Charles Gallery.

For further information please contact either Kirsty Ogg or Bridget Crone on 020 8983 4115. The Showroom is supported by Arts Council England. Project supported by The Henry Moore Foundation.

Mary Jane Aladren, Adelaide Bannerman, Claire Barclay, Iwona Blazwick, Sarah Carrington, Paul Collett, Laura Emsley, ezppl, Peter Fillingham, Rose Finn-Kelcey, FlatPack001, Rebecca Fortnum, Frieze, David Gilmour, Simon Grant, Ceri Hand, Margot Heller, Margot & Fergus Henderson, Paul Hobson, Claire Hooper, Martin Hopkinson, Matthew Hunt, Sue Jones, Kate MacGarry, Lynn MacRitchie, Anna Milsom, Dave Muller, Paul Nicholson, Kristine Nielsen, Campbell & Mairi Ogg, Harry Onslow, Michael O¹Pray, Maureen Paley, Alison Raftery, Signwave, Simon Starling, David Thorp, Transmission Gallery, Catherine Ugwu, Isabel Vasseur, Grant Watson and White Window are all actively supporting the work of the gallery by joining The Showroom's Friends Scheme.

The Showroom
44 Bonner Road, London, E21 9JS
T. +44 (0)20 8983 4115
E. bridget@theshowroom.org
W. www.theshowroom.org
F. +44 (0)20 8981 4112