Category:Artwork

3-D Cash Sculptures Passing Each Other in the Mail

My brother turned 30 just before Christmas. He is an artist, jeweler, and gemstone enthusiast, so with a little inspiration I arrived at a novel way to send him his birthday cash: those decade birthdays call for extra recognition, right?

30 Dollar Polyhedron James Hough

So here is the 30-sided polyhedron—constructed from 1-dollar bills—that I sent him as a late birthday gift. Late as in post-Christmas. Which means that my brother’s late Christmas gifts to my family must have passed my gift to him in the mail, because we each received our packages within a day of the other.

Cash Origami by James Hough's Brother

He sent us a cash butterfly and a cash elf boot! We were both shocked and thrilled that our minds had gone to the same obscure place when we decided what gifts to send each other. Neither of us had sent or—as far as I know—even made anything like these cash constructions before!

p.s. I should note that though my gift to him was larger in volume, his was larger monetarily:)

Beachfront Exhibition Layout and Photos, 2004, by James Hough

For my MFA thesis show at UNLV, I created a lifestyle brand called Beachfront. It was all about optimism and toothpaste packaging design. There were 5 sub-brands: Beachfront Fire, Bold, Classic, Sensitive, and Gold. I created this plan for the gallery layout of the exhibition. I am including a photo of the installation of these wall pieces and of the Judd-inspired upper gallery.

Beachfront wall installation, 2004, by Jim Public, aka James Hough Beachfront floor installation, 2004, by Jim Public, aka James Hough James Hough, Beachfront exhibition plan, 2004

From a Selection of Paintings, 2006, by James Hough

Koby Teith was a brand I created during the time that my friends and I were writing country songs as Ripper Jordan. We liked Toby Keith’s bravado and intelligence as a songwriter, so I paid homage to him by creating a logo that I think looks like it would be dandy on a steak sauce bottle.

As for the artwork, the logo served as an armature around which to pile up mounds of oil paint. Methinks the tedium of masking and airbrushing was getting to me!

James Hough, Koby Teith, Brown BW, 2006 James Hough, Koby Teith, Green Colors, 2006 James Hough, Koby Teith, Brown Red, 2006 James Hough, Koby Teith, Green Burst, 2006 James Hough, Koby Teith, Brown Sloppy, 2006 James Hough, Koby Teith, Dark Red, 2006 James Hough, Koby Teith logo, 2005

From a Selection of Paintings, 2007, by James Hough

It is crazy to look back on complete bodies of work that you made years back. I hadn’t thought about these paintings from 2007 for a while, then I stumbled upon them recently, deep in my hard drive. I made this group of paintings while I lived in Las Vegas. They embody the romance of the Old West that still characterizes that place.

James Hough, Koby Teith Star, 2006 James Hough, Ever Profaning, 2007 James Hough, Paint Aphorism, 2007 James Hough, Status Quo, 2007 James Hough, The Dots of Their Eyes, 2007 James Hough, When You Open Your Eyes, 2007 James Hough, The West Was Won, 2007 James Hough, The Oiler, 2007

Our first quilt

Portrait quilt, 2014, by the Houghs

My wife’s ancestors were pioneer farmers, and we are carrying on one of their traditions.

Quilt-making!

We began this one—our first—about 5 years ago then put it on hold for a while until we got some big quilting frames last Christmas. And now we have completed it.

The design comes from a photo of our daughter cuddling our son when they were about ages 6 and 1. If you back away from the quilt about 50 feet you can see the image, which is hardly practical, so we content ourselves with wrapping ourselves in our new blanket knowing that the design is a picture of our kids, even if we can’t tell up close.

Here’s a tiny picture of it, which shows the image a little better.

Portrait quilt (small image), 2014, by the Houghs

3 New Portraits in Pencil

I give out tickets to students as a reward for good work and good citizenship in my classes. They write their names on the tickets and put them in a bag, from which I occasionally pull one name from each class. The winner gets his or her portrait drawn by me. Here are the portraits I finished last week. They are pencil on 11″ x 14″ paper.

James Hough, Portrait of an Eighth Grader (1), 2014 James Hough, Portrait of an Eighth Grader (2), 2014 James Hough, Portrait of an Eleventh Grader, 2014

Believer, 2013, by James Hough

Believer, James Hough, acrylic on canvas, 31" x 47"
Believer, 2013, by James Hough, acrylic on canvas, 31″h x 47″w

My most recent painting takes a turn toward representation. I used additive and reductive painting techniques to create the image, as I have been doing in my non-objective works, but this time I was evoking a still life by Henri Fantin-Latour, whose intimate paintings are so quiet, yet sculptural, in the way he uses light and shadow to create space.

Plus, finally seeing the Cy Twombly Gallery at the Menil Collection was a huge inspiration as I approached this painting. Looking at Twombly and Fantin-Latour is humbling and uplifting at the same time, and this painting owes its swirling circular shapes and its palette to both painters.

Burger Night, 2013, by James Hough

Burger Night, 2013, by James Hough
Burger Night, 2013, by James Hough, 55 1/4″ x 45 1/4″, acrylic on canvas

I worked on this painting off and on for a long time. In fact, after my attentions progressively made it worse, I was driven into a brief retirement from painting altogether.

“Who needs paint anyways!” I shouted silently to myself. “It’s just stupid goo!”

But I pulled through and finished it, thanks mostly to my wife for her encouragement and a little bit to myself for remembering that I actually do like paint.

Sunk, 2011, by James Hough

Sunk, 2011, painting by James Hough

I’ve made some preemptive resolutions for the coming year, one of which is to use words less often. The world is full of them already. That said, sometimes I like to talk about where a new work comes from. So here goes.

Distinterested Witness (destroyed), Jim Public, 2011

Sunk was called Disinterested Witness for a while, but after about a week of looking at it in the house it wasn’t holding up to repeated viewings. So, now it’s Sunk. Before the DW nomenclature there had been a ghostly image of a ship at sea in the piece, but no photos survive to document that permutation. And prior to all of that, this panel and canvas had been home to a painting from 2005 called TAF Prototype, from my days as a painter of faux-marketing-graphic-design-satire.

TAF Prototype (destroyed), Jim Public, 2005

But, again, now it’s Sunk, and I think it’s going to stay that way.