Robert Kushner at Midtown Payson - New York, New York - Review of Exhibitions - Brief Article

Art in America, June, 1995 by Janet Koplos

Robert Kushner's "Mille Fleurs/ Cornucopia of New Paintings" is filled with works forceful and gregarious enough to shine at an opening, where views are intermittent and incomplete. His lush representations of flowers, foliage, fruit and vegetables positively scintillate, a result of vivid colors and graphic outlining, to say nothing of the sequins, glitter and gold leaf applied to the surfaces.

In quieter circumstances these works are no less lively, but one has a better opportunity to appreciate their engrossing complexities. Grounds are patch-worklike or kaleidoscopic: colors shift from red to blue to purple to gold, and surfaces, whether stroked or poured, may look opaque or transparent. And that's only the beginning. Arcadian Walk, 30 by 120 inches, is a scene of flowery excess, mostly marigolds that overlap each other and are cut off by the edges of the canvas. The objects on Torrid Table, 60 by 180 inches, are so consistently comestible that the painting must be an outtake from Kushner's enormous mural for the Gramercy Tavern in Manhattan. Grapefruit, avocado, pomegranate, star fruit, kiwi, pineapple, papaya, olives and more are scattered casually across the lower half of the canvas, below a midsection change in background color that presumably indicates a table.

The stable square canvases of Summer Morning (48 inches square) and Artichoke Apotheosis (72 inches square) turn dynamic with almost filmic spirals of natural goods. The larger work pivots around the sensuously ciliated interior of a bisected artichoke. A background consisting of acute triangles of color pointing up or down establishes a pinwheel effect that is reiterated by a cascade of floral images pouring down the right side of the canvas and rising up on the left. Both these works (and others) sustain a spatial ambiguity because some subjects are painted realistically while others are ghostly outlines and some look almost like stencil images, sharp-edged and flat. A strawberry in Artichoke Apotheosis is recognized by its shape and its dots, in the absence of color and contour.

Kushner has been known for decorativeness and abundance since his performances in edible vegetative costumes and his effusively painted P & D textiles of the '70s. These recent works push at decadence with their ripe profusion. Kushner responds to the power of quantities; his baroquely opulent sensibility has never been more satisfyingly expressed.