Stephen Bush

From the Field to Figuration, 1987, oil on linen, 183 x 183 cm

Ten Pink Trucks, 1984, oil on linen, 102 x 200 cm

Oberlander Manoeuvre, 1998, oil on linen, 198 x 233 cm

Desiree, 1997, oil on linen, 198 x 239 cm

The Lure of Paris #27, 2007, oil on linen, 183 x 183 cm

Today Julie pointed me towards having a look at the work of Stephen Bush. I find him an interesting artist as it appears there are dioramic elements in his work, but he paints slightly more loosely and gesturally than I do. His paintings are strange works from the imagination, but have a basis in the real, which is an effect I am trying to create by painting from dioramas. I love his use of colour in that it is sometimes quite simple or in fact monochromatic, and at other times bright and saturated. I think my favourite imagery is his The Lure of Paris which is painted in grisaille and features Babar the Elephant dolls. This compelling mix of the recognisable and the strange works very effectively, and nothing subtracts from the subject of the work because of his use of a black and white palette. I would like to try working with these elements in my own painting and also begin to increase the size of my paintings. I really like how Bush works on canvases almost 2 metres square, and whereas I have worked a lot in the past on panels around the 30cm square mark, I would like to start increasing the scale.