Hugh Ford grew up in Ballarat, Victoria, and moved to Melbourne in 1996 to complete a Bachelor of Graphic Deign at RMIT. Hugh spent the next eight years in Melbourne designing, drawing, painting and stencilling, as well as creating his own tee-shirt label, forever APE and exhibiting paintings in several group shows in Collingwood and Fitzroy. In 2004 he moved to Sydney to continue his work in design and illustration in styles ranging from pen and ink, vector, paint, pencil and collage.

 

Hugh’s illustration work has been featured in various publications, ranging from books to business and music magazines to interior design annuals and he has worked for many different magazines and book publishers.

 

He was recently working as a senior designer at Murdoch Books, and has been nominated for Young Designer of the year three times, by the Australian Publication Association. 

 

In early 2007 Hugh held his first solo exhibition, Magic Cowboy, at blank_space gallery in Surry Hills, Sydney. Hugh was also selected for Art Melbourne 07 and Art Sydney 08 to be featured in their Off the Wall emerging artists showcase. Since then, he has had three sell out solo shows at Iain Dawson Gallery in Sydney, in February 2009, 2010 and 2011. His work has been bought by private collectors all over Australia, New York, Hong Kong and Europe.

Ford’s paintings are created using acrylic paint on canvas. The subjects are varied but typically explore fun, whimsical themes, from carnival characters to magicians, arcade machines and team mascots. Hugh’s bold line work is an extension of his sketching and illustrating, and usually the focal point of his paintings. Depth is created using layers of texture and a simple colour palette. The absence of certain detail, leave the viewer to place their own narrative on the work. Hugh’s work is best described as innocent and impulsive, often created from beautiful mistakes.