robert kushner

Our Choices Art Interviews Robert Kushner /  by Robert Kushner

Another highlight of the recent show of my work at Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Paris is this interview with Pierre de Montesquiou of Our Choices Art. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed giving it. This is a rare discussion of the familiar, the unfamiliar, and the familial in ways I have never quite gone in before.

The Fabric of Gods and Goddesses at Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris /  by Liz Riviere

The Fabric of Gods and Goddesses
Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, France
23 May - 22 July, 2022

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE:
This exhibition brings together compositions from the eighties in which the human figure appears as a decorative motif. This exhibition demonstrates the artist's powerful syncretism to a singular oeuvre which acknowledged its overtly decorative function. When minimalism and conceptual art dominated the American art scene, Robert Kushner took a completely different direction: he chose to situate himself in a daring interval, mixing fine arts and decorative arts, which were then considered a minor art form. This return to motif and ornamentation allowed him to raise questions about the very concept of beauty in contemporary art, at a time when the United States bathed in a puritanical atmosphere where making beautiful things was suspect.

Using a vivid color palette, the artist nourished his works with a blend of Eastern and Western cultures, combined with transdisciplinary artistic practices - let us recall that Robert Kushner's beginnings were marked by performance and theater costume design. These different facets allowed him to compose work rich in hybridities, resolutely contemporary: with its sophisticated aesthetics and the philosophical messages it conveys, his work resonates in the present world.

photography © Aurélin Mole for Galerie Obadia

Robert Kushner: Then & Now at DC Moore Gallery, 2023 /  by Robert Kushner

In addition to walls adorned in surprising pairings of artwork decades apart, the opening of Robert Kushner: Then & Now (February 16 - March 25, 2023 at DC Moore Gallery) offered an art “re-happening”. Family and friends participated in a conceptual reprise of “New York Hatline.” The 2023 version has been named "New York Hat Line: The Beat Goes On."
I’ve included some images of the evening here, plus a truly must-see seventies film clip where Ed Friedman and I not only model our mesmerizing, fantastical hat collection, we describe each one in lush, scintillating detail. In keeping with the theme of Then & Now, what an honor to have my ‘collaborateur-extraordinaire’ participate in the 2023 reprisal. Every time the hats come out, everyone has fun.
Thank you to everyone in attendance!


For more information, you may visit DC Moore Gallery and my instagram page.

 

ROBERT KUSHNER AND ED FRIEDMAN
September 15, 1977
Public Access Poetry

Oxbow School Students Create Mural with Robert Kushner /  by Robert Kushner

It was wonderful to visit Napa, CA in the riotous height of spring and particularly inspiring to work with a wildly talented, spirited, goofy, wonderful group of high school students.   Gathered together from all across the country for this one semester art immersion and academic program, I hope they learned some things, but I know that I felt renewed and restored by their optimism and buoyant energy. Drawing, drawing, painting the myriad of wild flowers and garden flowers at hand, then collectively composing and collaging this collection of blossoms done by the entire group was an education for them and a thrill for me.

OxbowSchoolMuralwithRobertKushner.jpg
““This week, Robert Kushner has expanded Oxbow students’ knowledge on botanical art and art
itself during his ten day residency. Just finishing the two­ week research project, Project­X,
students were introduced to Kushner by a couple of sticks, jars of ink and flowers. They learned
how to sharpen sticks into fountain pens in order to observationally paint flowers on thin
Japanese paper. Kushner draws a lot of his inspiration from traditional Japanese art and his
interest in the natural world. His work is nationally acclaimed as the catalyst for the Pattern and
Decoration movement where his natural elements are placed in abstract and geometric
atmospheres which ultimately contributes to both a decorative and modernist style. His visit
ended with a large­scaled accumulation of the flowers on a big slab of wood to create the effect
of a dream garden. Preparing for Spring Break, Oxbow students are enjoying the sunny Napa
days and are finally finishing up big research papers and projects in their Humanities classes.
After Spring Break, the Oxbow School will readily enter its conquest into Final Projects!”
– Emily Y., student”