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"The silk becomes like skin"

Jeanne Hugo

B. 1984 

 

Inspired by the murmurations of calligraphy brush strokes and how it translates to migrations and our desire to engage with new territories, Jeanne Hugo believes that great art, just like flights of experience, stains the fabric of our subconscious mind. “The only freedom we have is that which we allow ourselves.” When the acrylic black ink seeps into her finely illustrated, stained silks it proves that she constantly pushes and pulls the boundaries between render and surrender.

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Hugo’s curiosity become aroused by observing the malleable nature of culture, its formation and the interconnectedness with our natural world. The notion that we continuously migrate, evolve, shape and sculpt our own (and collective) truths and then embellish it with a cabinet of symbols, associations, flags, literary metaphors, patterns and celebrations become a pattern of embodiment. Nature patiently observes this dilly dally and reflects upon us its own supreme systems of operation.

 

Life, death and everything in between become the landscape – and ultimate proof – of time. We are innately integrated into the here and now.

 

After obtaining her Degree in Visual Art in 2005, Hugo has had the privilege of studying and exploring the world extensively. From sketching the fjords in Greenland, painting with volcanic ash in Iceland, tackling the art of realism at the Florence Academy of Realist Art, grappling visual strategies at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Hugo is in a constant state of wonder.

 

“I aim to have my viewers somehow gripped by the soothing, seeming innocence of my work and then be transported to a certain familiarity of their own (un)conscious state”

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  • 1995 Winner in Creative Writing competition and subsequently had an afternoon of high tea with Queen Elizabeth II

  • 1999 Voted Finalist in ‘Best Young Artist’ at the Tygerberg Art School | South Africa

  • 2004 Finalist in the Timo Smuts Art Competition | Stellenbosch, South Africa

  • 2005 Finalist in the Timo Smuts Art Competition | Stellenbosch, South Africa

  • 2005 Obtain Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

  • 2010 Exhibition alongside Elmarie Lategan at the Wessel Snyman Creative | Cape Town, South Africa

  • 2010 ‘Smorgasbord’ Group Exhibition at Wessel Snyman Creative | Cape Town, South Africa

  • 2011 Group Exhibition in the Alberto Perez Gallery | Ensenada, Mexico

  • 2012 Fund Raising Exhibition for ‘Building Botswana’ at the Green Monkey Gallery | New Jersey, New York

  • 2013 Finalist in the Vuleka Fine Art Awards, exhibited at the Art B Gallery | Bellville, South Africa

  • 2014 Group Exhibition at the Grand Provence Estate Gallery | Franschhoek, South Africa

  • 2015 Obtained Diploma in ‘Art and Interactive Strategy’ from the Museum of Modern Art | New York

  • 2016 Ebb & Flow{er} exhibition at Upstairs Gallery | Cape Town

  • 2017 Judith Mason Tribute Group Exhibition at the Christo Coetzee Gallery | Tulbagh, Cape Town

  • 2017 ‘Requiem’ Group Show at Móinéir Gallery | Pringle Bay, Cape Town

  • 2017 Guest Artist & Speaker at Casa Dumetz Winery | Los Alamos, California

  • 2019 Exhibition alongside Elmarie van Straten at Beyerskloof Wybar | Stellenbosch, South Africa

  • 2020 Saronsberg Kunsteater ‘Stillewe’ Exhibition | Tulbagh, Western Cape

  • 2021 GalleryONE11 | Curator

  • 2023 MOK Group Exhibition 'The Twist of Trees' | Stellenbosch

  • 2024 Strauss & Co. 'Art Rooted in Nature' Collection 

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