Aidan Hughes is a

commercial art Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of promo ...

ist. He was born in 1956 in Wallasey, Merseyside, England, and was trained as an artist by his father, himself a

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

painter. In the 1980s, Hughes published a

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

-style

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

called ''BRUTE!''. ''Brute!'' has become an occasional

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

for Hughes as well. Hughes usually works in a very high contrast style, often black and white, but more often black and white accented with one other color. He claims influence from

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

artist

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

, the painter John Martin, and (most apparently) from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

posters. Aidan Hughes created most of the

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of a ...

s for the industrial band

KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial rock band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art proje ...

. Two of KMFDM's

music videos A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

("A Drug Against War," "Son of a Gun") were

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

versions of Hughes's artwork. His other work has included outdoor

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s, including the 75 metre mural in Barga,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, during 2003 which has since been covered over with an earth bank; and a wide variety of

advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically us ...

, including pieces for the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial bank, commercial and clearing (finance), clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Par ...

, and

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

. Hughes is credited for the art design and concept of '' ZPC'' (''Zero Population Count''), a first-person shooter computer game developed in 1996 using the ''

Marathon 2 ''Marathon 2: Durandal'' is a first-person shooter video game, part of the science fiction ''Marathon Trilogy'' by Bungie. It was released on November 24, 1995. The game is mostly set on the fictional planet of Lh'owon, homeworld of the S'pht, ...

'' engine. In 2017, Hughes co-founded ''Tweak'', a photo-editing app for iOS and Android. He presently lives and works in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

BogArt

Aidan Hughes joined the BogArt collective in 2006. This street art organisation attempted to subvert the burgeoning graffiti tagging culture by using public toilet advertising space as alternative gallery space. They also produced a number of short films, detailing their art happenings and protests on the streets of Prague, Czech Republic.

References

External links

"BRUTE! Propaganda", Aidan Hughes's official siteKMFDM official site Article about Hughes' outdoor murals"KMFMS"
(Anti-Microsoft website for which Hughes has designed artwork)

(An interview with Hughes conducted by

Brian Sherwin Brian Sherwin (born January 22, 1980) is an American art critic, writer, and blogger with a degree from Illinois College in 2003. Sherwin is a founding Management Team member of the artist social networking site myartspace, where he also served as ...

)
Aiden Hughes' YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Aidan 1956 births British album-cover and concert-poster artists British advertising artists and illustrators Living people English contemporary artists English graphic designers English muralists KMFDM Artists from Merseyside Pseudonymous artists