Hugh Pryor Oxford based light artistAbout Hugh Pryor

As a former student of animation at Farnham, I’ve always maintained an interest in motion, however it’s not always been in the form of animation. Photography offers the opportunity to experiment with many forms of motion, whether that’s running around with a sparkler or using a laser as a giant bar code scanner on a dancer, or combining video frames to visualise the motion of a flock of birds. The key to my practice is to turn our endlessly moving world into something that is still, beautiful and tangible.

Like a moth I’m drawn to lights – we’re lucky to be living through a lighting revolution with LEDs, laser and microchip-controlled lighting. Through the design and creation of sometimes elaborate lighting set-ups, worlds of movement are opened up. All too often abstraction takes over; however, fascinating things happen on the boundaries between pictorial representation of a subject and meaningless chaos.

When you open the camera’s shutter for a long exposure, you are inviting all the movement in the scene to land on the camera’s sensor and record itself.  The subject becomes the shutter – eclipsing the light source and creating the boundaries between light and dark.

With the new outlook these techniques show the world, phenomena such as the patterns of wind, turbulence, clouds, swarms of flies, flocks of birds, traffic, people, dancers, fair ground rides, and one’s own motion in the form of luminous performances, are freed from the dimension of time.


Exhibitions

Artweeks 2024 – Figurative photography at home, open on Sat 4th, Sun 5th , Thur 9th, Sat 11th and Sun 12th May. See Artweeks Website.

Past Exhibitions

Neither Use Nor Ornament – Everyday objects transformed. Arts Council funded exhibition at Ovada working with Sonia Boue– April 2019
Still in Motion – Exhibition at The Old Fire Station – Oct 2018 – Feb 2019
Camaradas UK-Mexico Art
– performance art collaboration with Veronica Cordova de la Rosa, Espacio Gallery, Bethnal Green (2018)
Director’s Cutbottle chandelier and selected figurative photographs, Ovada gallery (2017)
Posed – experimental life drawing exhibition, OVADA gallery (2017)
Uncovered – exhibition of life drawings, OVADA gallery, Oxford  (2016).
St Giles Fair – exhibition of slit scans, Quarter Horse Coffee Cowley Road, Oxford (2015)
Tralfamadorian Vision – exhibition of slit scans, Oxford Artweeks at OVADA gallery (2014)
Take-out event with ArtWash, Tsang’s Kitchen, Oxford (2009)
Slit Scans Exhibition at Tenderpixel Gallery, Soho, London (2008)
The City as a Canvas Workshop and Exhibition with gps mapping – ESAD Matosinhos  Oporto, Portugal (2008)
Selected GPS Drawings Exhibition, Oxford Artweeks (2007)
Drawing with Satellites  Workshop and Exhibition, FNAC  Oporto, Portugal (2007)
Triptych Map with Sure Start, Tate Britain, London with Lake Associates (2006)
FreQut  Workshop ICA Theatre, Westminster Wireless Festival, London (2006)
Geograms <TAG> gallery, The Hague, Netherlands (2006)
Randonnée SONAR Advanced Music and Multimedia Art, in Barcelona (2005)
Drawing on Oxford workshop display,  Museum of Oxford & Modern Art Oxford (2004)
The Big Draw  Modern Art Oxford (2002)
Bathos  Exhibition and Workshop, Space Station 65, Dulwich, London. Dog Drawings (2002)
Taking a Line for a Walk  X-Change gallery, Oxford (2002)

Installations & Performance

Cat’s Cradle  – Performance with bungee cord, string and wool under UV light at the Hundred Years Gallery, London (Nov 2023)
In Tent
 Performance inflating balloons in a tent at the Hundred Years Gallery, London (March 2023)
Glow Your Own
IF-Oxford Interactive light installation as part of Oxford Christmas Light Festival (November 2021 & 2022)
Light Lead Performance with Flying Disco Balls, LAPER Performance Art Festival at Headington Hall (May 2019)
Bbyond Belfast – Performance art practice in Derry, Northern Ireland (2018)
‘Squash and Stretch’ Performance Art Festival fractal video installation, Oxford Brookes  (2018)
Live Art and Performance Group – monthly performance workshops in collaboration with Veronica De la Rosa (2017-2018)
Re Cycle – Bicycle installation for the Oxford Big Green Day Out with Roger Perkins (2017)
Psychedelic Circus – fractal projections and laser shadow wall The Cellar, Oxford (2016)
VIDEOVADA – interactive fractal projections, OVADA gallery (2016)

Workshops 

Light Photography Workshop at Spires Academy (Oct 2022 and Nov 2023)
Still in Motion Experimental photography workshop at the Old Fire Station, Oxford (2018)
Slit scans and Chronochromagraphy workshop – OVADA, Director’s Cut exhibition (2017)
Light Drawing workshop – OVADA gallery (2015)
Paper folding workshop with Oxford Hack Space,  OVADA gallery (2013)
Schlieren Photography workshop with Tim Stephens from Oxford Hackspace at OVADA gallery (2014)
Stammtisch – Workshop and installation with a Halloween pumpkin chandelier, OVADA gallery (2013 and 2014)
Blogging from Mobiles – workshop with Kay sentence (2008)
University of Oporto on Matosinhos Beach and Reitoria Workshop and Exhibition with the University of Austin, Texas (2007)
FreqOUT! Churchill Gardens Youth Club on Battersea Park for Westminster Council (2006)
Drawing Oxford on Oxford Modern Art Oxford (2004)
Common Place  Landform Ueda workhop at The Lighthouse, Glasgow (2003)
GPS Drawing workshops at the following schools (2002-2003): King’s Park Primary School Edinburgh, Chichester High School West Sussex, Montem Junior School Slough
Drawing on Oxfordshire – Part of “The Big Draw” at the Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock (2003) with 5 schools around Oxfordshire.

Contact

If you wish to contact me for commissions, collaborations, exhibitions or if you have any questions to ask me – please email me on
hello@hughpryor.co.uk

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