Wooden Toys 1935 - 1942

Rex F. Bush made this watercolour painting on paper, 'Wooden Toys', and it reminds me of when I start a painting and things aren't quite popping. The subdued, natural palette is so restrained it's almost like a whisper. But look closer, and you'll see the way the artist coaxes out the dimensionality of the toys, how they sit in space, through subtle shifts in tone. It's a quiet kind of mastery, an orchestration of light and shadow that feels tender. I find myself drawn to the gentle gradations of color on the bell, the way the artist suggests the roundness and depth of the object with such delicate brushwork. It's like a caress, a loving attention to the simplest of forms. This feels like an echo of Giorgio Morandi’s still lifes, but with a naive twist. I am left wondering how Bush would respond to seeing his work in a gallery like this, years after it was made. It's like overhearing a conversation between artists, a quiet hum of inspiration that stretches across time and space.