Hark.

Kushana Bush, on her painting 'Hark' 2018:

‘I had a work by Paolo Uccello in mind when I embarked on this painting. Uccello’s 'The Battle of San Romano' c.1435–60 is so carefully constructed, balanced and composed. It makes order out of chaos, which is one of the great delights of making images that attempt to synthesise the outside world, a world that creeps into my mind through news reports on my studio radio.

Without any direct experience of a battle in my lifetime, here at the bottom of the world, my sense of reality is distorted. My battle construction can only be a staged fabrication, an invention with dog walkers, broom handles, toilet plungers, and city pigeons quite unruffled by the commotion, looking more interested in having their portrait painted. The blindfolded man–child about to dive in from the stepladder emerged as a key actor as I made this work. He is so easily overlooked in the cacophony of the painting, but he looks one step removed from the chaos – for this moment anyway.’

Bush’s intricately detailed paintings borrow from different times and realities, and depict a range of human interactions and behaviours, from acts of devotion and torture to erotic couplings. Offering a somewhat dystopian view of human relations, Bush addresses universal themes – love and hate, revenge and salvation, devotion and rejection, good and evil – that resonate across cultures, geography and time. She draws on disparate influences, including Indian miniature painting, Japanese ‘ukiyo-e’ prints, the rich world of European medieval manuscript painting and events from modern life, and her combinations of seemingly unrelated motifs – from urns and brooms to Slazenger logos – connect different historical periods, behaviours and cultures. Intimate in scale, but dramatic in content, Bush’s painstakingly created compositions foreground the artist’s devotion to illuminating human behaviour.

Exhibited in 'The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' (APT9) | 24 Nov 2018 – 28 Apr 2019