Glyn Hughes 1931 - 2014

61 of an internal reflection and resistance of the artist. Glyn Hughes arrived in Cyprus from the England of the 1950s, the England of Ben Nicholson, Patrick Heron, Henry Mundy, Alan Davie, Peter Lanyon, Terry Frost and Roger Hilton, among others. He systematically followed the work of the great modernists, and through his work, it seems he was well aware of the subversive temperament of his almost-contemporaries Jean Dubuffet, Karel Appel, Antoni Tàpies and Pierre Alechinsky. Through the extraordinary power and momentum of his painting surface, emerges also the socio-political aspect of his work. He used to say: “It was important for me to be there and not be politicised”; therefore, painting was for him the weapon of an “aggressive warrior”, as he identified himself. Although he was an artist who never hid his preference for men, with male nude forming the basis for many of his abstract works, in the then introverted and conservative Cyprus he was never marginalized; on the contrary, he was always socially acceptable. The difficult years of the Cypriot history, as well as other important social and political events happening around the world, were often transformed into explosions of colours and shapes in his works. As he said in an interview in 2008: “My works are more political than erotic. But not political in the sense of Left or Right, although I lean to the Left. I don’t know; on the one hand, I am politicised but on the other, I’m not. I’m just an artist.” Artist Glyn Hughes passed away on 23 October 2014, leaving behind significant work, which is crucial to the understanding of the evolution of art in Cyprus over the past sixty years. This exhibition, a due tribute to this great artist, examines the various aspects of the artistic personality of Glyn Hughes from 1931, when he was born, until his death, and presents, besides important works –paintings and set designs–, an extensive archival material, as well as many accounts of people who got to know him during his rich, creative career.