Pat Hobaugh grew up on a small farm in rural Indiana. He never took an art class or touched a paintbrush until his senior year in college when he took an Art History course that changed his life. He fell in love with the Old Masters and started to teach himself to paint. After several years of self-education, he went back to school to earn a Bachelors and Masters in painting from the University of Iowa and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, respectively. Now he is represented in galleries across the country and has work in collections around the world. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Pat Hobaugh works in a style that reflects the examination of pop culture fused with the tradition of Dutch still life painting. His fascination with objects (action figures, toys, miscellaneous foods) comes from his anthropological mindset that questions what these objects say about us as a culture. Having dubbed his particular practice of painting our pop culture icons in object form “Stuffology,” Hobaugh explores the significance of materiality and “playtime” in the modern world and infuses it with matured satirical wit and a childlike playfulness.
