Artist and musician, Kevin McHugh: “Art is probably my first love”

It’s a breezy November morning. Ireland is hungover from the Hallowe’en celebrations earlier this week. Kevin McHugh sits in a cosy Irish pub, not far from his house. He is sporting an orange hoodie from his clothing line, Hollow Hill Apparel, with a worn in black denim jacket, adorned with patches from his favourite bands and matching black denim jeans. His laugh is totally infectious.

Along the highstreet, McHugh’s murals are easily recognisable, even if you are just stopping by for a quick visit to Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. A bright flash of colour, amongst the usual grey skyline of the island town.

Kevin McHugh is a down to earth character, never boastful, almost quite humble. He lives with his wife, Jolene and their five years-old son, just outside Enniskillen.

McHugh recalls the moment he fell in love with painting: “I suppose art is probably my first love. My brother taught me how to draw and how to paint… the paintings just got bigger when I started murals. It's kind of the same thing as doing everything so much bigger that you actually have to think bigger as well!”

The artist’s murals spawn all over County Fermanagh. You’ll often see him carefully poised on a cherry picker, paintbrush in hand, splashing colour onto the outsides of local cafés, pubs and sometimes the odd bus stop across rural parts of the county.

Most of his jobs before he started his own business have been creative, however he admits the real motivator that inspired him to become self employed: “To be honest, the bumpy road was when I was working for other people. Because I just wasn't happy. I just thought, this isn't what life’s about. I'm on somebody else's time, every day… I eventually just took the plunge, I had to do it, there was no choice, y’know?”

“I went on a business start up scheme which basically gave me six months to not have to worry about money coming in and in them six months I just painted and painted as much as I could.”

Other than murals, you can also find the artist's work in other mediums. For McHugh, you’ll most likely hear him before you see him. His punk-rocking attitude seems to bleed into his art style, with a long list of book illustrations he has worked on throughout his career and portraits depicting musicians like John Lydon of the Sex Pistols and Pat ‘The Professor’ McManus of Mama’s Boys.

“My other great love is music. Anything that has loud guitars… If it had a guitar, I’d give it a listen.”

When he’s not painting, McHugh is found dressed head to toe in funeral attire, fronting the horror punk band, Cadaver Club under the rather spooky stage name, Mr Crowe accompanied by his wife (Boom Chic Chic) and brothers (Dirge and Draggle).

“The band actually started because I was painting a portrait of Jerry Only from Misfits… it was in the first year of starting up my own business. These lyrics started popping into my head about ehm… a guy who was making a monster from bits of all his wife’s friends… So by the end of the painting, I had the song. It’s called, ‘I’m Making a Monster, Baby!” He explains that painting and song writing come hand in hand for him. Although two different mediums, each come together to create the perfect mix of ‘creepy-cool.’

Upstairs in the pub, just a fortnight ago, McHugh launched his new book, ‘Timothy the Dead Boy’ written and illustrated by himself in an ‘Irish wake’ style, complete with a coffin painted jet black, a ‘memorial’ for Timothy and an acoustic soundtrack to complete the evening by Cadaver Club.

A man of many talents, McHugh appears confident, slightly unfazed by his growing popularity, however, he admits that the book launch was more daunting than he had prepared for; “I felt like I had to do a proper launch, just… ahh, kinda felt I owed it to myself, even though that was the last thing I would want to do… It was very nerve wracking… you kind of have to stand up and say, ‘I did this’ like… ‘I did this!”

There is no stopping McHugh. After a long successful career in the arts he has no intentions of quitting any time soon.

“I do fairly appreciate the fact that I get to do what I want to do… getting to have a paintbrush in my hand the whole time is great, y’know.”

As for the future, he hopes to continue with murals and book illustration, so keep your eyes (and your ears) peeled for Kevin McHugh’s next move.