History, spirituality combine in ‘The Burning Hours’

History, spirituality combine in ‘The Burning Hours’

A significant touring exhibition of historically and spiritually inspired works by New Zealand artist Kushana Bush opens this Saturday at Christchurch Art Gallery.

Bush, one of New Zealand’s most exciting contemporary painters, has received growing international attention in recent years for her original subject matter and distinctive style.

Curated by Dunedin Public Art Gallery’s Lauren Gutsell, The Burning Hours focuses on Bush’s works produced between June 2014 and late 2016, with the aim of illustrating the shift that has taken place in her recent practice.

Christchurch Art Gallery deputy director Blair Jackson says Bush’s latest body of work is rich in detail.

“While her early works characteristically positioned the subject matter centrally, her newer paintings have grown larger in scale and are more visually rich and compositionally complex.

“Her references to Persian miniatures, illuminated manuscripts, European and Japanese art history, and modern life inject the past into the present, and she draws viewers into a spiritual space with a unique visual language of humanity, ritual and humour,” adds Jackson.

This sense of a spiritual space is the cornerstone of the body of work presented in The Burning Hours – a title that pays homage to the medieval illuminated manuscripts known as books of hours.

In 2014 Bush visited the Chester Beatty Library, in Dublin, where she viewed illuminated manuscripts, miniatures and decorative arts from Islamic, East Asian and Western traditions. She describes this visit as the closest thing to a spiritual encounter she, as a secular individual, has experienced.

With source material that extends from thirteenth-century manuscripts to twentieth-century painters, including Stanley Spencer, Bush explores how religious themes blend with the secular, often manifesting in ritualistic violence. Her grand narrative constructions examine what spirituality, ritual and community might mean in a contemporary world.

Kushana Bush: The Burning Hours is on display at Christchurch Art Gallery from 10 June to 15 October 2017, and is accompanied by a major publication focusing on Bush’s practice. Entry is free.

ENDS

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