Rachel Busby

About the works

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I set up a situation to create an improvisation triggered by a universal communications code.

The painting takes off from there, a unique moment that's undeniable, that can not be anything but that. Working in real time, decisions, opportunities and defeats are played out within a limited time frame. The result is the outcome of the action.

 

During the global pandemic I had an overwhelming feeling of dislocation, displacement and uncertainty. Aware and appreciative that this sense was within us all, it slowly dawned on me that I had carried this feeling most of my adult life. My interest turned towards freedoms within restrictions and limitations.

 

I started to look at universal forms of communication and settled on looking at ICS, (International Code of Signals) that is used for vessels. Before radio-telegraphy, radio-telephony and GPS, ships used flags to communicate important messages regarding safety of navigation and other related matters. In particular, I looked at flag hoists whereas each flag has its own letter as well as a reference to a particular message. Usually seen at long range, the distance was an apt barrier to how things had become, everything was at a distance.

 

Working wet on wet, each painting has its own time limitation. As a starting point, I paint an ICS flag symbol and then respond in real time. Treating each piece like an expedition, there is no room to turn back once started. Allowing for error, misdirection and misguidance, these traits are an expected part of the process. The paintings wrestle to harness time as the mind wanders and the emotion triggers. The outcome is never a memory, prophecy nor precognition, it is a response to that precise moment exploring the relationship between an inner reality and the physical world.

 

Impossible to filter out the noise, the works absorb the conscious state of the ordinary, social injustices, dreams, myths, spirituality and anxieties. The painting becomes a biography. Diluting the paint down, the thinness of paint is heightened by velocity and a sense of urgency. A small action that can leave a devastating mark. Choosing not to hide away any gesture, all is laid bare to see. Uncertain but not unsure, a seemingly non committal and unapologetic approach in attempt to not achieving perfection.