Robbie Bushe: Invasions and Excavations: A solo exhibition

A collection of new drawing and paintings which straddle daydreams, observation and reconstruction. They take as their starting point sprawling cities built on monumental panoramas – both improvised and real to create elaborate environments as a stage for buildings, civil engineering, transportation, its people and their stories. The images are inhabited by groups of figure conjured from a cinematic fake or reimagined mythology hoping to trigger viewers own narratives and set of associations.

The works have drawn connections with the work of Russian artists Brodsky and Utkin who initially studied architecture in the 70s and combined architecture and art practices. I have found similar old world pictorial invention in the works of the American painter Hernan Bas and the Belgian illustrator Brecht Evens whose work has given me confidence to create elaborate fictions in pictorial painting.

These development have provided a focus for my preoccupation with the layering of history revealed through excavation, archaeology and history. I am fascinated by the drama, infrastructures and social politics within both ancient and contemporary civilizations.