AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

"The Im-BLEACHment of George W. Bush"

PRESS RELEASE September 23, 2008
For Immediate release
Contact: Diane Bush
tel: (702) 795-1722, (7-2) 234-3269 c.)
e-mail: dianebush@cox.net
web : www.dianebush.net

The Im-BLEACHment of George W. Bush”

First Public Art Performance by Photographer on 7th Anniversary of Las Vegas’s First Friday Arts Celebration

On October 3, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. on the corner of Casino Center and East Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas NV, Diane Bush will perform the first “Im-BLEACHment of George W, Bush” in order to honor the 35 articles of impeachment read to congress by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, last June. The satirical performance will also promote her book and exhibition, “WARHEADS”, which will be on display at the Mark Diederichsen Gallery in the Arts Factory, through October. This “visual exorcism” will invite members of the public to toss a small vial of diluted bleach at a 50”x 40” photograph of George W. Bush until the image is completely bleached away to a blank white “canvas”. The performance will be videotaped and the artist plans to have a shortened version with a soundtrack including the Kucinich articles of Impeachment, rap and music available on YouTube, before November 4.

“I invited Dennis Kucinich to come to Las Vegas to re-enact his hour long reading of all 35 articles of impeachment, but I have not heard back from him yet. Maybe he can join me if I take the performance to Washington DC for Bush’s last day in office on January 20, 2009.”

Famous for her social and political satire, Bush’s “WARHEADS” have been on exhibit this summer at several prestigious venues such as the Photographic Center Northwest, in Seattle, the California’s Museum of Photography Digital Lab at the University of California, Riverside (now on show through October 1), and the Palos Verdes Art Center in L.A. This fall her work from The Polaroid Foundation Collection will be on exhibit at the Soho Photo Gallery in N.Y.C.

A veteran “peacenik” who fled to the UK with a draft dodger in the late 1960’s, Bush, turned her documentarian lens to the TV tube during the1991Gulf War for all 43 days of the war. Unlike other photographers who shoot off the TV set, Diane used a macro lens at innovative angles to achieve what many think are computer-manipulated pictures of fat headed newscasters. The resulting commentary on media censorship was titled “Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Had Cable?” and was shown at the Houston Center for Photography and the Nevada Institute of Contemporary Art.

Outraged by a new war, Bush re-worked her original Gulf War prints by throwing bleach on them. The chemical reaction produced fiery red, orange, yellow, and white explosions – like patterns…a perfect visual commentary on the increased violence and horror of car / suicide bombs typical of recent Middle East conflict. Due to media censorship Diane knew the devastation of these bombs would never be seen and therefore would never be understood by American TV viewers. Renamed “WARHEADS”, 26 of the 43 altered photographs were published as a monograph by KuDa Editions in 2006. Diane will be signing copies of her book “WARHEADS”, before and after the Im-BLEACHment.

To see all the “WARHEADS”, and access Diane’s resume and bio go to www.dianebush.net For other questions, you can e-mail me at dianebush@cox.net

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