Wandering Melbourne’s laneways, Rachel Rush was always fascinated by the juxtaposition of the static built forms and the ever-changing canvases of their walls. Pair this with a rebellious outlook and the stage was set for a colourful and captivating career.
More than two decades on, the Auckland-based artist has distilled that fascination into a practice of duality. Under her own name, Rachel Rush, she explores colour as atmosphere, with moody, immersive journeys that invite a slower, more contemplative reading. Under the moniker RUSH, the work shifts entirely: here, it’s loud, gritty, and charged with the immediacy of the street.
It’s a deliberate tension. One artist, two distinct ways of seeing — unified by an instinctive understanding of colour.
“Colour is who I am,” she says. “I see it everywhere.”
Rachel’s early work began with oil on canvas, painting landscapes that quickly lost her attention. What followed was a move towards abstraction: bold shapes and saturated palettes that allowed for a more intuitive, feeling-led process. It was here that her voice began to take form, unbound by convention and increasingly defined by scale.
Running parallel, however, was a growing fascination with street art. The visual language of graffiti — its layering and impermanence — offered something different: a raw, unfiltered energy.
The RUSH works, in particular, carry that urban imprint. Densely layered, they are built up through stencils, fragments, text, and pop culture references, compositions that reveal new details with each encounter. There is humour here, too, woven through the surface — phrases that feel at once irreverent and familiar: Bad decisions make good stories. Do epic shit. Tequila made me do it.
In both explorations, the artist’s works are head-turning; they are undeniably statement pieces, designed to fill spaces with character and, in the case of RUSH, a side of rebellious nostalgia. It is under her RUSH moniker that she will present a new exhibition at Artbay Gallery from 20 August.
Gritty, electrifying, and filled with characters inspired by pop culture, the works feed the imagination in minutiae.
“What I love about street art is the freedom of it; it’s rebellious, dirty,” Rachel explains. “For me, it’s about taking that and domesticating it. I call it ‘urban disturbance’.
“I want these pieces to feel like you’ve come across a wall in the street — you notice a colour, a detail, and every time you come back, it’s changed. Sometimes there’s a brick element, stickers, nostalgic references. Then I finish it with clear resin so the colours really pop. I’m a bit addicted to it — it’s all-consuming.”
In the upcoming exhibition, Rachel’s work extends beyond the canvas. She has explored this territory before, most notably through a series of mannequins created for an exhibition at Eden Park. Here, however, the idea is pushed further. Lamps, snowboards, suitcases: each object becomes the work itself — unexpected, sometimes bizarre, and entirely evocative.
WIN this piece, Mr Michael Mouse, by Rachel Rush
