Barbara Rush is a very colorful and structured award winning
acrylic artist. Her work has been influenced by cubist artists
such as Albert Gleizes, Juan Gris, Picasso, and Jean Metzinger,
but her style is uniquely her own.
When creating her art she always completes the backgrounds
first, using heavy bodied acrylics with impasto techniques and
dry brush or glazes to finish the layers. She allows herself
complete freedom in the background in contrast to the tight
forms that are used to convey her subject matter. Designs of
her subjects are created on paper, once they are complete,
she transfers her sketches to the canvas. Merging the elegant
outlines of horses, florals, or other creatures onto the loose
backgrounds.
Ms. Rush then applies colors into the heavily gridded shapes,
or curves, that in the same moment break apart and hold the
subject matter together. Quill brushes (not masking tape) are
used to create precise lines and curves. She enjoys leaving
a space between the shapes to allow the background to pass
through, reminding us that although our world appears to be
solid there is a life force that exists, between our molecules,
creating movement within all things. Life is molded from lines
and shapes, capturing the essence of its energy on the canvas.
Ms. Rush currently resides in Roswell, GA. She is originally
from Virginia Beach, Virginia and was educated in fine art and
graphic design. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from Old
Dominion University (VA) and a Master’s in Advertising (Design)
from Syracuse University (NY). As a practicing graphic designer,
her art is heavily influenced by lines, grids, and shapes. Her love
of finding shapes and forms within her subject matter is easily
discernible within every painting she creates.
All in all, Ms. Rush’s unique way of connecting with her subject
matter, combined with her unique style and analytical analysis of
interlocking shapes, makes her paintings resonate with vitality
and significance in the art world.
'The Tao of Equus Series was inspired by my
love of horses and several cubist paintings on
display in the High Museum of Art (Atlanta,
GA) in 2006. Struck by the essence of the cubists’
accomplishment of capturing movement on paper,
I was compelled to see what the structure of the
horse would look like as it shifted with each position
of its body. I immediately began drawing restructured
horses and playing with complementary curves and
angles within the form of the horse.”
“The result is what I call Geocubism and it
is the way I have been painting since 2007.”
- Barbara Rush
Barbara Rush joined Pixels on September 4th, 2012.
