Patrick Hughes

Patrick Hughes (b 1939) is an artist and writer, and best known for his invention of a unique optical illusion he calls the “reverspective”: a three-dimensional relief painting, where the objects that appear closest to the viewer, are in fact, the furthest away in physical space. His work plays with perspective and distance, challenging and often disorienting its audience.

Hughes was an important figure at Porthmeor during the 1970s. The deaths of Barbara Hepworth, Bryan Wynter and Roger Hilton in 1975 signalled the end of an era, and Hughes was one of a number of artists in St Ives whose work was not influenced by their predecessors. He was also a social catalyst at Porthmeor, forming a swimming club and a darts team with other artists such as Tony and Jane O’Malley and Terry Frost.