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Hugo Wilson | Artist

From his studios in south London, British artist Hugo Wilson creates vibrant, large - scale works that examine ideology and humanity's obsession with it. Classically trained, his paintings, prints and sculptures have been exhibited and installed in prestigious locations around the world, notably in the ceiling of a ballroom in a Bavarian castle. Hugo shares with Cabana his beginnings and inspirations.

How did you begin?

"My education was really polarised. I went to Florence when I was 18 and had this really classical training: you drew only from life and spent a year drawing from plaster casts until you graduated to drawing from models. I was there for four years and learnt a huge amount technically. I then did a Masters in London, which in my case was predominantly writing.

"I also dropped almost all painting and drawing and made photography and kinetic sculpture. This was equally as important for me, learning how to tie up who I am and what I think with and how I make things."

Who or what most inspires you?

"I am very interested in the need to construct ideology, often as a safety mechanism (understandably), so, in a way I have to remain very reticent to having a single unquestioned ethos as that is the exact thing I a m examining. But basically, I am interested in any group of people who have agreed on believing anything."

Hugo's work on show in Berlin; Courtesy the artist and Nicodim Gallery. Photographed by Lee Thompson / Flying Studio.  

How do you plan, prepare and create your works?

"Works tend to spawn from other works, it might be a technical thing or realising that I could have delivered an idea in a clearer way. Often, a literal approach to an idea ends up being what I do. For example, I am really interested in the desire to hold a single position within an impossible set of conflicting factors (this seems to be well understood, and used as a political tool). So, in the case of these works, I collide many images over one another, and after each layer try to unify and make singular what is going on (often impossible). So, the resulting work is actually evidential of my attempt to hold a single position in a set of conflicting ones."

Are there any themes running through your work?

"There has been a strong look at religious works from western art history, although in the last few years that has become less. In the end, I am trying to make works that feel as though they come from an alternate and believable set of historical factors, or collide previously known symbols or referential images to the point where they are unrecognisable as themselves, but a new symbolism has appeared."

Hugo working on a large painting, which now graces the nine-meter-high ceiling of the ballroom of Schloss Oettingen, Bavaria © Christian Kain.

What does a typical day look like?

"I live in a very sleepy part of south London, and I love it. My studios are under an overground section of the tube in arches, and the community of mechanics, metal workers and all types is incredibly friendly and inclusive. It makes me feel like London is a good place, far away from shock politics, where people from a lot of different places and religions work very happily alongside each other.

"On the whole, I think most people have a very incorrect view of what it is to be an artist in the 21st century. It is hard work, but also incredibly interesting. For example, my day today started with a large work - which is soon to be installed on the ceiling of a palace. An hour doing this interview! A studio visit, which was set up by my German gallerist with a really nice collector.

"The afternoon will be spent working on a new painting for my next show, and tomorrow I have a perfect quiet day with no one else in the studio. I will drive out to join my wife and daughters at the cottage we rent in the country."

Hugo's works on show at Nicodim Gallery, LA; Courtesy the artist and Nicodim. Photographed by Lee Thompson / Flying Studio. 

Your favourite museum or gallery?

"I think it has to be the Prado, Madrid, for the strength and depth of the collection and for its really mad one - off examples of really great artists (such as Goya's, The Dog and Hieronymus Bosch's, Table of the Seven Deadly Sins)."

A contemporary artist whose work excites you?

"I am reading a lot about a painter called Gillian Carnegie at the moment. I always liked her work and recently saw one at a collection I was also exhibiting in. There is a quiet po wer to her work, which I think stays with you long after you see it."

Interview by Camilla Frances
Images from Lee Thompson and Christian Kain