In Pearl Conard Art Gallery, George Rush's exhibition, "Darker with the Day," was composed of five recent works. George Rush's work expresses trait that are correspondent to the Romantic style and time period and works similar to that of Caspar David Friedrich.
The exhibition showed five paintings in all; three being interior sill life, which shows tables, chairs, dairy jugs and various other containers, and the other two being paintings of windows, which shows either curtains or abstract forms of what lies beyond or inside the glass. Each work was placed on a wall that had been painted grey and darker grey lines representing what seemed to be tree branches of sorts winding and spreading across the wall where the piece was hung.
The two paintings of windows were placed on two corresponding walls, so that it felt as if you were still looking through or looking at the same window, but from a different vantage point. All five pieces were done in grey scale and painted in oil based acrylics on canvas. The pieces represented accurate forms, a wide array of line types and styles and it was visible that the paint was applied moderately throughout the entire piece so that the viewer can see the medium that was used for the works. The exhibition works well the the pieces, because you have several different options of how to view the concept that Rush is trying to point out, which is that the views of the "outside" that are inside are more abstract, while the actual windows in the gallery act as a more realistic view of what lies beyond, or inside the glass.
The meaning of the work is that it was intended to give the viewer different options for viewpoints of the outside or inside depending on how you see the window or the space. It makes the viewer sense that the windows are no longer on a flat canvas, but are more tangible. Because the paintings of the windows are placed on corresponding walls, the viewer feels as if it is the same window and the canvas and wall are no longer a wall but both act together as a window through to different spaces. Behind these works is a grey wall with dark grey lines representing what seem to tree branches or some sort of natural or abstract form of nature, so regardless if the view is into a still life or into a dark window, there is some sort of feeling of the outdoors that dominates the viewers surrounding. Another significant factor is light; where the light comes from, how it reflects of other objects to make other objects more visible. Light makes the painting visible, just as light makes everything visible, and without it there would be nothing, so Rush experiments with the ideas of light sources and how light brings things into reality.
1.) What was the significance of the items you chose to paint on the table in your still life works?
2.) Is there any reason why there were two painting of windows and three still life works? Why?
3.) What does the negative space within the one window represent, if anything?
