45 pieces of art blend into one in Josh Rush's exhibition Orbital Plein. By bringing together work from different periods and places in his life, Rush reflects on his routines. His time spent riding his bike along the canal towpath, walking along Oval Beach on Lake Michigan, and paddling across the lagoon of Oxbow School of Art. He shares his process of soaking up the world around him, and ultimately, Orbital Plein becomes a map of where Josh Rush has been, both physically and emotionally.
The first painting in this body of work, Tipping Point, was painted en plein air. It represents Rush's direct engagement with the land and the beginning of his artistic process. Building on the themes of his MFA thesis—which explored the liminal sublime and the space between internal and external experience—Orbital Plein considers how these things relate to the experience of going somewhere and returning and what this process truly entails.
Even as Rush continues to spend time outdoors, whether on a bike ride or a walk, he won't start his pieces until he's back home. Impulsive marks are guided by memory and sensation, and he allows the physical act of painting to shape his work. Then, he'll introduce the landscape itself.
There's this concept of 'orbiting': moving in a repeating path around something. And even Rush's continuous return to paint reinforces this theme. He experiences the outdoors, processes, and translates what he observed—and felt—into paint, and begins the cycle again. Painting is an extension of his journey. The walks, rides, and paddles "clear out the cobwebs," he says, but "painting continues that process."
As he traced his movement through the physical world and his internal environments, Rush began incorporating imagery from vivid dreams. Not being tangibly seen doesn't discount an experience or its significance. The tension between representation and abstraction is a driving force in his work. It highlights why painting strictly from surroundings feels "insufficient" to him. There is so much more beneath and beyond the surface.
This tension even manifests in how the pieces of Orbital Plein interact when displayed. Their horizons blur, connecting the individual works, and the landscapes seem to spill beyond their edges. Piece by piece, the 45 moments merge into one.
Orbital Plein reminds us we "don't always have to travel somewhere exotic or set out on a grand adventure to experience something meaningful." As Rush puts it, "sometimes it's enough to take the same walk, ride the same bike path, or paddle the same stretch of water; you just have to pay attention. And all the places you've been to, and how those moments have made you feel, make up one grand map of you.