Format: Art

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Hocken Digital Collections

The Assembly

Details

Accession Number2012/03CreatorBush, Kushana, 1983-Date2011

Description

Media & SizeGouache on paper: 760 x 560mm (CG 2018)DescriptionKushana Bush lives and works in Dunedin and has a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Otago Polytechnic School of Art where she has also lectured. She was awarded the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 2011 which culminated in producing 31 gouache paintings for the exhibition 'All Things to All Men'.
Bush draws on a range of art historical references, from Giotto's fourteenth-century frescoes and erotic Japanese Shunga art to Indo-Persian miniatures and the twentieth-century paintings of Englishman Stanley Spencer. Her technique is also distinctive. Working in gouache, an opaque watercolour medium, enables her to create saturated planes of colour as well as minute details.
Bush's works have been described as 'fascinating', 'unique', 'delightful', yet 'sometimes disturbing' in their level of tiny detail. This is evident in The Assembly. After being drawn in to examine the exquisite detail of the textiles, you become caught on the watches, finger and toe nails, a plaster on a knee, hairs, broken red capillaries on cheeks and blood shot eyes. All are details that make you feel that you are watching a little too closely.
The group manages to convey a sense of community through their close proximity, while also being consumed with their own emotional states. You want to decipher their intriguing activities as part of the group is gathering around in adoration and contemplation of a central bust, others are worshipping a vase of flowers, and one woman is completely overwhelmed, anxiously trying to leave the situation.ProvenancePurchased from Brett McDowell Gallery, 2012Caption Bush's works have been described as 'fascinating', 'unique', 'delightful', yet 'sometimes disturbing

Depicts Or Relates To

NamesFrances Hodgkins FellowshipSubjectsGroups -- Portraits

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The Assembly

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