Journal

The He(ART) of it All: R HUGHES + Alan Avery Art Company

Alan Avery

We often get questions regarding the art collection we feature at R HUGHES, which encouraged us to reflect upon our relationship with the oldest sustained art gallery in Atlanta, Alan Avery Art Company. It is because of this partnership that R HUGHES is able to showcase an ever inspiring list of emerging, mid-career, and internationally established artists.

We asked Founder and Principal Alan Avery to sum up why he feels this partnership has been such a successful one over the years, and his answer was simple, yet profound. A much needed reminder for how we approach all collaborations, “A partnership is a relationship and with any relationship there are key components to making it work: Understanding, Mutual Admiration, Respect, Trust, and Good Communication. It was obvious that there was symmetry in the way that we viewed and valued art, so I chose to make our partnership an exclusive one.”

“Aside from being a champion of R HUGHES early on, Alan has managed to consistently curate and spotlight talent that surprises its viewer consistently for 40 years. The works from his gallery have become those missing puzzle pieces in our showroom, bringing further personality to the space,” says Ryan Hughes.

While many who visit the showroom have seen rotating works from the artists below, we wanted to properly showcase these talents in combination with Alan’s perspective of why a finishing touch to a room is often the art that provides the punctuation at the end of the design story.

Betty Merken

Betty Merken is a lyrical minimalist that harkens back to abstract expressionism and the works of the likes of Mark Rothko and Piet Mondrian. In the edges of her color is where you see the power and movement prism as the color resolves, at the edge of the composition is where the magic of her work happens.

In the shadows of the American Pop Art and other New York artists that followed, I have always felt that Gregory Botts is one of the great American Painters that has gone unnoticed and not given his due. I love finding these artists putting them out there as collectors and institutions re-discover them and begin to give them the attention they deserve.

fabiola jean-louis

Her work is so complicated in its creation. Dresses made of paper painted to look like the finest fabrics, with backdrops and accessories constructed and painted the same manner. I knew from the moment I first encountered Fabiola Jean-Louis‘ work and the message underlying its creation, the work and the creator would be remembered by many who had gone before her.

Bob Landstrom

Bob Landstrom is the only artist that I have ever seen working in the medium of crushed volcanic rock. His work has immense depth and often complicated, steeped with symbolism and formula, yet there is also a naivety and humor that makes you smile and feel good as they unfold.

Kathryn Jacobi

Kathryn Jacobi captures mages of figures from a previous time painted beautifully and with precision of the old masters, yet contemporary in message and tone. Kathryn’s characters always seem to be withholding a secret like they know something more than you do.

Pascal Pierme

Pascal Pierme is a wonderful minimalist modern sculptor favoring wood as his medium of choice. He has developed unique ways to patina and treat the surface in a way that fools the eye having the viewer second guessing whether the sculpture is made of glass, highly fired porcelain or metal, then discovering that is is wood throughout.