Solo Exhibition
David Rusbatch: Flaunt Every Kiss
Flaunt Every Kiss is the new exhibition by rising Leeds artist David Rusbatch. The paintings focus on “love and relationships in the 21st century” and are the artist’s most personal to date.
The collection includes remaining pieces from Rusbatch’s 2014 collection Lost & Found, which celebrated UK club culture and led to plaudits from Boy George, Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) and Maxi Jazz (Faithless), who asserted Rusbatch as one of the UK’s most exciting emerging artists.
Opening at RedHouse Originals in April, Flaunt Every Kiss sees Rusbatch look within to tackle an intoxicating cocktail of emotions. He explores with trepidation the world of online dating; the quest for fulfilment and its varying degrees of success. At other times he questions the notion of “domestic bliss in a world of selfie sticks”, challenging the concept of “public displays of affection” and tearing down pre-conceived ideas of contentment. His text-painting ‘The Bestest Things In Life’ provides a moment of respite, adopting a light-hearted view in describing how real happiness comes from “popping bubble wrap”, “the smell of crayons” and “tripping and realising no-one saw you”.
Whilst the themes are at times achingly on-trend, at its core Flaunt Every Kiss is concerned with universal experiences of the human condition; namely the desire to love and to be loved. As an exhibition, the 25 paintings are dynamic, bold, at times experimental, and consistently heavy with a demand for truth. As a social document, the collection presents a brave and honest visual account of an individual living, learning and loving in contemporary Britain.
