The Lamb With The Talking Scroll

2023

oil on canvas

152.4 × 183 cm (60 × 72 inches)

"In this painting, Courtney Bush is posed as Saint Sebastian from the painting St. Sebastian Thrown into the Cloaca Maxima by Ludovico Carracci. The image of Saint Sebastian is a seductive one—a body passively receiving violence. In paintings of Saint Sebastian he is depicted as having enemies, being physically vulnerable, facing rejection. He is laid bare in a way that can also symbolize being under psychological siege by the external world. I was also considering Louise Bourgeois’s works where she has created a mythical female figure of Saint Sebastian. The text in the book is the title of Courtney’s book of poems (in-progress), The Lamb With The Talking Scroll." - Brittany Miller