Brooklyn-based painter Shara Hughes is entering a major career phase with a series of high-profile exhibitions and commissions. In September 2025, her first New York solo show since 2019, “Weather Report,” opens at David Kordansky Gallery, featuring nine large-scale paintings. Two months later, a mid-career survey titled “Shara Hughes: Inside Outside” debuts at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, including both paintings and ceramics. Next year, she will unveil a large-scale mosaic floor installation at JFK International Airport’s Terminal 6, alongside works by Charline von Heyl and Candida Alvarez. The article includes an interview with Hughes, who discusses her studio routine, creative process, and the emotional depth behind her psychedelic landscapes.
This article matters because it highlights the continued ascent of a contemporary painter who has reinvented landscape painting for a new generation. Hughes’s inclusion in the 2017 Whitney Biennial and her upcoming museum survey at the Norton Museum of Art signal her growing institutional recognition. Her work, which blends Fauvist and Symbolist influences with a deeply psychological approach, represents a significant thread in contemporary American painting. The article also offers insight into the practical realities of an artist’s life in New York, from studio habits to financial choices, making it relevant to both art-world professionals and general readers interested in the creative process.