#xavierhughes

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Portrait of a Young Lady (1628/32)

by Paulus Moreelse (Dutch, 1571–1638)

European Painting and Sculpture, Gallery 212

Xavier Hughes BFA 2021 | Portrait of a Young Lady (2019)

Historically, portrait painting within European traditions acts as a form of documentation and an indication of status. I have replaced the image of this unknown person with an image of a woman with global cultural significance. I hope to critique and admire the tradition of portrait painting with this piece.

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Penitent Saint Peter (1628/32)

by Jusepe de Ribera (Spanish, 1588–1652)

European Painting and Sculpture, Gallery 211 

Xavier Hughes BFA 2021

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The Captive Slave (1827)

by John Phillip Simpson (English, 1782-1847)

European Painting and Sculpture

Xavier Hughes BFA 2021 | Retrospective 1. (2019)

The Captive Slave by the English painter, John Simpson, is a hybrid between portrait and genre painting. It depicts a shackled, dark-skinned man, thought to be modeled by the American-born actor Ira Aldridge. The painting is an abolitionist statement. To complicate and propel this painting into an expanded conversation, I’ve reinterpreted the work by digitally collaging it with a portrait of an aristocratic woman by John Singer Sargent. The motif of “the enslaved” present in the original piece becomes less literal in a way and more contemplative of possibly an institutional enslavement; but also, the implied interaction between the male and female figures and the clear dichotomy of class presents a complexity that parallels the original sentiment of the painting.

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Trompe l’Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain (1658)

by Adriaen van der Spelt (Dutch, 1630-1673)

Frans van Mieris (Dutch, 1635-1681)

European Painting and Sculpture, Gallery 213

Xavier Hughes BFA 2021 | Tromper L’œil / Augmentée (2019)

Trompe-l'œil, as defined by Wikipedia is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. Trompe-l'Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain created by Dutch painters Adriaen van der Spelt and Frans van Mieris is a prime example of this. What I hoped to achieve with this piece was to exemplify this idea with computer generated three dimensional simulations. I then manipulated the original painting to change over time, displaying portraits of the original painters within the painting after being revealed by the animated cloth. Trompe-l'œil is sort of a natural precursor to the idea of augmented reality. To implement virtual objects in our real world creates the illusion of a world that exists in parallel, which works in tandem with trompe-l'œil as a concept.