ANGLE OF DRAW
SEPTEMBER 1 – OCTOBER 28, 2023
SHAWN BUSH
Through the lenses of the natural landscape and propaganda imagery, Angle of Draw examines the intersections of power, sustainability, and whiteness in the United States. Bush draws from propaganda imagery from the 1960s and 1970s to create starkly lit black-and-white photographs in the studio and the physical landscape. Throughout his process, Bush considers the impact of the fossil fuel industry on the natural environment, local economy, and future prospects of those left behind by corporations.
The resulting series of images consider the ways framing the imagery impacts the national imagination—upholding systems of social, political, and economic control. The simplicity of the photographic frame and its ability to crop becomes an omnipresent weapon to censor nonbelievers and advertise a capitalist and androcentric ideology.
ABOUT SHAWN
Lens-based artist Shawn Bush (he/him/his) grew up in Detroit, MI, a city whose civic history and geographic location have profoundly influenced how he thinks about physical space within American sociopolitical and socioeconomic landscapes. As a result, his photographs and collages are responsive to over-built systems, failing icons, and collapsing mythologies.
Bush earned an MFA from RISD and a BA from Columbia College Chicago. He is included in the 2022 Silver List, a 2021 recipient of the Aperture CreatorLabs Photo Fund, a 2021 Wyoming Arts Council Fellow, and a 2023 Kodak Visionary Project Award recipient. His debut monograph A Golden State won the handmade category at the 2016 Lucie Photobook Prize and is included in the Griffin Museum of Photography, Benaki Museum, and Museum of Contemporary Photography collections. A Golden State was published by Skylark Editions in 2018. Bush’s work has been shown in various publications, including Wallpaper Magazine*, Wired Magazine, FotoFilmic’s JRNL, and Vogue. He has lectured nationally at several universities and art institutions, including Yale University, the University of Missouri, and Los Angeles Center for Photography. His second monograph, Between Gods and Animals, was published by VOID in 2021.
Bush is the founder of Dais Books and Assistant Professor of Photography at Casper College.