PROFILE

All About Paul Frederick Hughes

Paul Frederick Hughes, also referred to as “PHD,” born to a corporate expatriate and Swedish model spent much of his childhood traveling between Japan, Indonesia & Sweden. Much of his creative inspiration is drawn from this period in his life. Art has always been a first love and passion of his, but he circumvented an arts education to pursue a business degree at the University of Kentucky. Hughes has been painting street murals since before college, but it wasn’t until 2006 that he
began to find his voice and began seriously developing his brand. That same year, he incorporated his first company, PHD Design, which was originally a concept for a street wear brand centered on local Florida culture.
“In 2007 I went to ART BASEL to promote my brand (PHD Design) but ended up getting bitten by the art bug instead,” said Hughes. “I did a small mural at the RC Cola Factory for Primary Flight 07 and have been painting murals all over ever since, including helping artist Eduardo Mendieta paint two murals for the NFL Super Bowl in 2012.”
His current work involves invoking a sense of the metaphysical connections that all life shares. He uses geometry as the basis and metaphor to connect all things visually represented in his artwork. The Surreal element of his work is designed to force introspection. PHD prefers to utilize free hand spray paint and is known for his photo realistic portraits and geometric polygon patterns. He is currently also experimenting with CMC (computer assisted milling). He uses the combination of 3D modelling, changing form & language to machine output and incorporating large scale mural elements.