Solo Exhibition at The Byzantium Gallery.
Edinburgh, December 1989
BUSHE'S idiosyncratic collection of drawings and paintings are influenced, among other things, by time spent as a bar man in Aberdeen and as a kitchen assistant in Edinburgh. Not the most dramatic of inspiration one might suppose, but he has exploited a fascination with kitchen sinks and dirty washing to produce a series of often amusing, sometimes disturbing images which reveal a wry perspective and an engaging understanding of form.
As much space is devoted to drawings as paintings, which provides a rare opportunity to compare methods in the two mediums. The drawings reveal a concern with depth which is flattened out, but not disregarded in the paintings. These are understandably, more concerned with colour and texture both of which are handled with dexterity. Murky forms contrast with luminous, smooth textures with rough. A half lit world inhabited by gormless men and moth eaten women.
Bushe manages to create a world to peer into, so that we are witnessing a private moment, unposed for the camera. Only an elongated cat which appears in most of the paintings is aware of our presence, looking out of the picture frame onto the outside world, sometimes regarding us, as well as the inhabitants of its pictorial world, with disquieting irony.
Jo Roe: The List, December 1989
The Traverse Theatre Edinburgh April 1990
THE SECOND one man show of Robbie Bushe is virtually a sell out. Buyers both north and south of the Border reckon that they are onto a winner. One Bath dealer has snaffled up seven in one go. The show has been mounted by Shiona Airlie of Artis. She says, "This is most likely to be the first and last show I do for him. It will be London next time around.
Robbie comes from a hugely creative stable containing father Fred of the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Aberdeenshire, and sister Claire, on of an elite of post-modern dancers in London. They work at their art and so does Robbie. He neither views it as an indulgence - nor does he paint to make money. 'I'd rather exhibit than sell', he mutters very quietly.
His secret of success may lie in the fact that he sets out to be accessible but does it in his own highly original style. From a distance his paintings, pastels and drawings look like child art. There is little perspective, figures are round and chunky, and colours may only be vaguely smudged on to the area they are supposed to be. But close up there is a cartoonist's knack to speak volumes with a few delicate well placed lines.
Robbie paints about domesticity - warts, dirty washing, infidelity, couples taking each other for granted - and all. Some of his pictures are busy, each corner stirring up a wealth of thought, in others, images are isolated for maximum impact.
The colour are strong, but so toned down they never shriek out at you. It's subtle, it never takes itself too seriously, it's art for the living room wall.
Kay Smith: The Scotsman 21st April 1990.
