Draft:Arlene Rush

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Symbol opinion vote.svg Comment: This draft was written to praise its subject rather than to describe her neutrally.

Does the author have a connection with the subject? Robert McClenon (talk) 21:10, 11 September 2018 (UTC)


Arlene Rush (born 1955) is a American multidisciplinary conceptual artist living and working in New York City. Her art examines the role of women in history and culture, using a multitude of materials to create installations, sculptures, mixed media and photo-based works.

Early life and career[edit]

Rush was born and raised in the New York City boroughs of the Bronx and Queens. She attended Queens College, graduating in 1977 with a B.A. in sculpture and philosophy.[1]

In 1986 Rush established a welding studio in Chelsea, where she constructed abstract steel sculptures from scrap metal and found objects[2]to explore themes of gender, kinship, spirituality and artist as subject.[3] During this time she changed her resume to read 'A Rush', in response to her perception of gender bias in the art world.[4]

Work[edit]

Buddhism[edit]

In 1991 Rush became interested in Buddhism[5], a strong influence in her art, leading to personally and physically reflective works using mirrored surfaces and symbolic forms.[6] Heads (1997-present), is an ongoing series comprised of casts of Rush’s head reproduced in a wide range of materials. Intentionally stripped to be free of identifying attributes the heads are representative of all human heads, and engage with the Buddhist concept of individualism without egocentrism.[7] For Inside Out (2001), Rush inverted the heads to be negative impressions with reflective qualities, causing an optical illusion where faces appear to be solid positives, simultaneously present and absent, past and future.[8]

Gender and identity[edit]

Since 2000, Rush, a fraternal twin to her brother, has manipulated familial and vernacular photography to subvert and comment on assumptions about gender and societal norms, age, and kinship. Replacing her brothers face with her own, Rush appears as her double in the portrait photograph series Twins, Just A Memory (2001-2005). The images, veiled with shattered tempered glass, re-imagine "what it would be like to experience adulthood from the point of view of both male and female."[9] Rush's Sechita, is a sculptural interpretation of Shange's poem to the prostitute "Sechita", produced for the exhibition, “i found god in myself: The 40th Anniversary of Ntozake Shange's for colored girls” at the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, is an "altar to a degraded body", discomforting and sensual, made from velvet, scalloped vaginal shapes with gold-colored coins strewn about.[10]

Self Preservation[edit]

The multidisciplinary installations and interactive performances that constitute Evidence of Being (2014-present)[11] conceived of when Rush undertook the activity of archiving her three decades as an artist working in Chelsea, repurposes rejection letters from galleries, institutions, and foundations she received and solicited from artists.[12][13] In addressing the effects of the art market, gentrification, class warfare, gender bias, and other kinds of discrimination, Rush questions what constitutes success and "the nature and importance of an artist's work, particularly in the face of rejection." [4] The self-portrait Days After II (2012), made in the days after Rush's breast cancer diagnosis, shows Rush’s faceless body with a mosaic map of brightly colored radiology stickers across her breast, symbolizing her body as a journey into the battleground of illness and as the face for many.[14]

Current Affairs[edit]

Rush for President (2008-2016) is a satirical interactive installation in which Rush envisioned what her own Presidential campaign might have looked like if had she run in the 2008 election.[11] The tableau featured a campaign poster, promotional buttons, a donation box asking viewers to contribute to her campaign to "world peace," a Betsy Ross flag, and the endorsement of the gallery director, Derek Adams, who wore a "Rush for President '08" t-shirt.  In her appearance in the poster alongside Adams, who is African-American, Rush raised the spectre of racial tension in politics, while also commenting on the nebulous nature of campaign promises and an outdated electoral process.[15]

Exhibitions and collections[edit]

Rush frequently contributes work to exhibitions and auctions benefiting social, gender, and health-related issues, participating every year for 20 years in Visual AIDS "Post Cards from the Edge"[16][17]; and A.I.R. Gallery's "Wish You Were Here 17"[18] in support of immigrant rights and reproductive rights activist Alejandra Pablos.

She exhibits in galleries and museums throughout the US, Asia and Europe and is in numerous public and private collections including Beth Israel Comprehensive Cancer Center- West Side, New York, NY; Joe Baio, New York, NY; Pavel Zoubok, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY; MOMA Wales, UK; MUBE, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Mark Golden, GOLDEN Artist Paint, Berlin, NY; Robert H. Chaney, Houston, TX; ARCO Chemical, Newton Square, PA; The Center For Emerging Visual Artists, Philadelphia, PA; and Library of Congress, Great Hall, Thomas Jefferson Bldg., Washington, DC. The Center for Emerging Visual Artists granted her a residency in 1988 to Barcelona, Spain and in 2011 she was awarded the Pat Hearn & Colin De Land Foundation Grant.[19]

Affiliations[edit]

Rush is a member of Franklin Furnace[20] and New York Artists Equity Association[2], and sits on the Rush Artist Advisory Board[21] (no relation).

References[edit]

  1. ^ Boltson, Arlyne (March 25, 1989). "Northport Galleries Seventh Annual Juried Art Competition".
  2. ^ a b Harrison, Helen A. (March 11, 1988). "Exploring Creativity as Process". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Braff, Phyllis (March 10, 1991). "Focus on the Family". The New York Times.
  4. ^ a b Landi, Ann (June 4, 2017). "Arlene Rush". Vasari21.com.
  5. ^ Landi, Ann (September 16, 2016). "Art and Meditation". Vasari21.
  6. ^ Rice, Robin (June 26, 1992). "Glass House". Philadelphia City Paper. 410.
  7. ^ Blomen-Radermacher, S. (September 18, 2001). "Artist Works With The Head". Rheinische Post. 217.
  8. ^ Falkenstein, Michelle (2008). LOCUS. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Fashion Institute of Technology.
  9. ^ Lambert, Audra (April 7, 2018). "AIPAD Features Groundbreaking Work by Arlene Rush in Photography Collection of Joe Baio". Antemag.com.
  10. ^ Rodney, Seph (December 1, 2014). "An Art Exhibition for Colored Girls". Hyperallergic.
  11. ^ a b Ruth, Kimberly (Jan 21, 2017). "Art Uncovered with Kimberly Ruth". http://www.btrtoday.com. External link in |website= (help)
  12. ^ Savitskaya, Anna (September 28, 2016). "Internalizing Rejection Can Be Detrimental to Your Mind Body and Work". Artdependence.
  13. ^ Rush, Arlene (August 2, 2016). "Call for Submission of Artist Rejection Letters". LinkedIn.
  14. ^ Landi, Ann (July 16, 2017). "Me, Myself, and I". Vasari21.
  15. ^ Smit, Marley C. (October 27, 2016). "Trust Issues Rush for President and the Pitfalls of the American Electoral Process". D/Railed.
  16. ^ "Visual AIDS Postcards from the Edge 1998".
  17. ^ "Visual AIDS Postcards from the Edge 2018".
  18. ^ "A.I.R. Wish You Were Here 2017".
  19. ^ Mut, Michael (February 6, 2013). "Twins: Just A Memory". Michael Mut Project Space.
  20. ^ "Franklin Furnace members".
  21. ^ "Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation".

External links[edit]

Category:Articles created via the Article Wizard Category:American contemporary artists Category:Installation artists Category:Artists from New York (state) Category:Living people