A Bitter Pill
A Bitter Pill. Original artwork/Diane Bush.
By Diane Bush
I retired in the spring of 2019. Instead of working full-time, and spending all my spare (?) time making and promoting my art, I was thrilled to finally devote all my time to being creative (when I was not managing all the eco-systems I manage: the garden eco-system, pool eco-system, the cat eco-system, the husband eco-system, etc.). Before the pandemic, my husband and I planned to return to Europe, where I had a book to promote, and where hundreds of art residencies were waiting, once I applied for them, and was accepted. We took one small trip to our hometown of Buffalo New York, in the summer of 2019, and have been in lockdown ever since—until June of this year, when we finally got to the dentist and checkups before locking down again in July.
As an artist used to producing works that use satirical humor to express my take on the human condition (and to make a better world), the pandemic gave my creative side the fuel to make new work. I have been known as an activist artist since the Gulf and Iraq Wars when I threw bleach on photographs in a new and radical way to denote the violence those wars unleashed. As a Yarn-Bomber with a group of seniors I crochet with, I have been active in providing colorful alternatives to urban monotony. Another tradition I have established is creating a major presidential election art event every four years, when I partner with Rock the Vote to register new voters while engaging the public in an art performance.
So in July 2019, when the gallery director of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ (UNLV) Donna Beam Art Gallery approached me to take part in a show of important female artists, called Femme Forte, for January 2020, I was thrilled. As an older artist (71), I sometimes get left out of shows organized by younger curators and gallerists. The director did not require new work, but I wanted to challenge myself by making something new, and I saw this as an opportunity to push my art to a new level.
The pandemic brought out a lot of aggression from folks in denial over the virus. I was especially upset by the way many people were triggered by the wearing of masks, using this issue to vent about their wounded masculinity issues, while calling it “FREEDOM.” Several people even died after fights over masks triggered fatal violence.
I put the invitation in the back of my brain while I finished another artwork for a local show about police brutality at the West Las Vegas Library. Then weeks later, at 3 am, I woke up, knowing exactly what I would make. A red ball covered in red soldiers, fighting each other, in groups of three or four, to represent the COVID-19 spikes of a COVID-19 molecule, as the global community of graphic artists were depicting it.
Creating the work involved going online to find the right ball, in the right color, without any marks or texture. I was lucky to find a bright red ball that only had one small sticker I was able to remove. After buying two different sizes, I settled on a 10” medicine ball. Then I had to find red soldiers, in a size that looked proportionally correct to the size of the ball. Again, I was lucky the red plastic colors of the ball and the soldiers matched! I had to experiment with ways to make the soldiers stay put when glued and to get them as close to each other as possible. Each soldier’s base had to be cut back and filed down. Then I had to roughen the base of each soldier, so the super glue had teeth to adhere to.
Plastic dust and super glue fumes were a bit problematic, as it was too hot to work outdoors. To attach soldiers all around, I had to carefully balance the ball on an upside-down tripod that was secured into a huge bowl with glass marbles for stability. All the soldier placements were done by eye-balling the composition as I went along. There was no measuring or mapping.
Another lucky feature of the ball is that there was a small hole, perfect for a screw-in “eye,” for hanging. I used a chain belt to hang the work, for a bit of glamor. An industrial chain would look too pedestrian, and I wanted something that looked a bit mysterious.
After the ball was hung, it seemed to need something else, so I added a few soldiers to “slide” down the chain, so they would look like they were joining the infectious behavior of the “mob.” That was the finishing touch that was needed.
Another element I had not considered was how dynamic the work would look when lit in a way that would cast menacing shadows on adjacent walls. Donna Beam Gallery did a great job taking advantage of the gallery lighting to give the work the drama it craved.
The final product was just as my mind envisioned, and I call it TOXIC MASCULINITY: A Bitter Pill, because it is made from a medicine ball and toy soldiers. So far it has been exhibited in several Las Vegas exhibits and will be included in an L.A. online exhibit, Art in the Time of COVID, next year.
At 18, Diane Bush immigrated to England during the Vietnam War. After 10 years of perfecting her street photography in the U.K., she returned to Buffalo, New York. There, Bush earned an MFA from SUNY. Afterwards she worked as photographer at local TV affiliates while pursuing her fine art. Bush worked as Photography Department Chair at Villa Maria College for seven years. Bush won awards from Kodak, Polaroid, Nikon, etc. and has exhibited/published locally, nationally, and internationally. Her work is in the collection of the MOMA and the Tate.
After moving to Las Vegas, Bush received numerous grants and an Artists Fellowship from the Nevada Arts Council. She was a USA Artist nominee, and currently she has expanded her artistic reach to include Yarnbombing, experimental fiber arts, including many temporary public art projects, such as enhancing a bridge and enhancing urban locations around the world. Diane shares a mid-mod style ranch home in Las Vegas with Steven Baskin, her husband, and Mookie the cat. Recently retired from Clark County Parks and Recreation, Diane is now a full-time artist.
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