The Artist: Hugh Hatfield

Hugh Hatfield was born in Ottawa,  Canada,  in 1955. His family moved back to the UK 4 years later. 

He attended the Medway College of Design and subsequently obtained a degree in Fine Art from the Sunderland Faculty of Art.

In 1977 The Artist moved to London. He exhibited at Wood Green Art Centre (a two-man show and a group show with fellow artists from a studio space in Butler’s Wharf),  and also at Hornsey New Gallery, and again at the London Foundation for the Creative Arts, in The Strand (another group show).  In the same period, Hugh also created artwork for Dunhill and illustration work for  Price Waterhouse.

In the late seventies, his work became very flat and photo-realistic.  Very fine detail was employed with the imagery of the pop-glamour of the ’70s (see “Face Tan”, 1979).

In 1980, Hugh joined the Hayward Gallery as a fine art technician.  He remained with them until he had to retire for health reasons in 1993. He nonetheless continued painting and adapting his mark-making process.  

The Artist also exhibited:  at the Air Gallery in January 1990; in his own show at the Actor’s Institute in November 1990.  He continued exhibiting his work at his own shows at the new Shivering Blaze Gallery in West London during 1992 and 1993/1994

Hugh became a founder member of Bow Arts in 1994 - where he stayed until 2014. Some of his work was included in the video about identity and belonging - part of “Out of Chaos” - by the Ben Uri Gallery at Somerset House in 2015.

A dedicated artist, Hugh worked continually to develop.  This can be seen in two of his most recent works: “Gravity Matters”, 2019, with a concentration on geometric form - where perspective is broken down and rebuilt; “And No One Was There”, 2021, which takes inspiration from organic forms in space.