Having originally trained as a graphic designer and illustrator at Newcastle School of Art and Design, Hush’s art practice has taken him throughout Asia, Europe and the USA, while simultaneously developing his prominence as a contemporary artist. His immersion in a diversity of cultures has informed his work largely recognized for its portrayal of the amaranthine of the female form while infusing cross-cultural influences and variant genres within contemporary art. A distinguishing facet of Hush’s work is the complexity of his technique that combines various street approaches with traditional art practices. Through the use of opposing themes and aesthetics, the artist presents contemporary depictions of traditional portrait and figurative imagery. Absorbing cultural and visual influences from his extensive travels, Hush found a striking connection to the mark making, tagging and graffiti he had encountered along the way. He observed each ephemeral mark as evidence of another’s action or creative expression, despite its gradual degradation over time. He found the remnants of previous marks left on the ever-changing street surfaces to be progressive where accidental layering often evolved into something beautiful. Hush seeks to capture the beauty that years of decayed tagging can create and magnify the value of these actions through his contemporary paintings. The artist’s canvases mimic city walls once adorned with wheat pasted images, tags and painting that overtime are repeatedly layered upon image after image. The technique for his highly involved mixed-media pieces is an amalgamation of painting, screen printing, spray-painting as well as layering and collaging of graphic novels and old comics. The culmination of the pieces is brought about as the diaphanous layers are strategically torn away to reveal the ultimate vision “letting the canvas and marks take their own path.” The central focus of Hush’s work is images of iconic and pop art renditions of the female form, particularly of the geisha and the anime manga. As the artist manipulates his canvases he finds figurative elements and allows the form to emerge to the surface. It is here that the artist confronts and debates the power, innocence, beauty and cunning of feminine sexuality.