Joe Rush (born 1960) is a British artist. He is the founder of Mutoid Waste Company, a performance arts collective that has performed at

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

Early life

Rush was born in 1960 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England.

Career

In 1980, Rush exhibited at The Car Breaker Gallery in Frestonia, London. In 1984, he founded the Mutoid Waste Company, an underground travelling collective of artists. That same year, he launched the first "Installation Party" in the disused Kings Cross coach station. From then on, he produced installations of his pieces in environments he mutated, occupying derelict warehouses and factories. Throughout the 1980s, he built techno-industrial sculptures at parties and

festivals A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

, and then travelled across both Western and Eastern Europe to continue the work. From making a "car henge" at Glastonbury (stone circle made out of cars), he progressed to using armoured personnel carriers and fighter planes in Germany after the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

. After leaving Britain for many years, Rush returned to the UK where he and his crew became involved with robotics and animation, as well as organising Mutoid Waste Company projects around the world. He has displayed his art aroun the UK, for example 'X-Ray Ted Mosquito' as part of Liverpool Discovers 2011. In 2001, Rush participated in Art-Tube, a month long exhibition on a Piccadilly Line

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

train. In 2012, Kim Gavin entrusted to Rush the art direction and creation of the vehicles, mobile stages and props of the London Paralympics Closing Ceremony. The aesthetics of the show were praised. In July 2018, he opened his first solo exhibition entitled 'Stories From the Wasteland' at the Bruton Art Factory in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. In June 2021, Rush created an installation entitled 'Mount Recyclemore', depicting world leaders attending the G7 conference in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

Collaborations

Rush has collaborated with

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive ep ...

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

and

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (; 8 April 1941 – 29 December 2022) was an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. In 2022, ''Sky Arts'' ranked her the ...

Gallery

File:War-horse-2011-by-joe.jpg, War Horse installation File:Blunderbird Moa Bike.jpg, Blunderbird Moa Bike File:Rush at Burning Man .jpg, Joe Rush at

Burning Man Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the Western United States. The event's name comes from its ceremony on the penultimate night of the event: the ...

References

External links

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Mutoid Waste Co.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rush, Joe 1960 births Living people British sculptors 20th-century squatters