Robert Kushner: Summer Sun: open my heart

Galerie Nathalie Obadia presents a new solo exhibition by American artist Robert Kushner in Paris. Bringing together twelve works produced between 2019 and 2025 – eleven works on Japanese paper and one painting on canvas – the exhibition presents a recent body of work in which botanical forms are combined with elements of ornament. Stems, leaves and petals appear against areas of gold leaf and colour. In these works, Robert Kushner focuses on the forms and characteristics of plants. Rather than creating a comprehensive botanical inventory, he draws attention to the particular qualities of individual plants. Flowers, leaves and wild grasses feature alongside less common or more visually striking species. The vegetal world functions as a visual language through which Kushner explores forms, rhythms and colours. His work brings together the observation of living forms with the processes of pictorial construction. Flowers have been present in his practice since the 1980s and have provided a way to work across the boundaries between figuration and abstraction. The botanical motif also provides a space for experimentation with line, materials, surfaces and ornament. In the works presented in the exhibition, these elements are brought together to examine different ways of representing natural forms while considering their relationship to composition and decoration.