KAB Gallery Artist Pete Rush

Pete Rush is an Australian artist famed for his site-specific sculptures. Working with naturally sourced local materials, Pete Rush creates larger than life sculptures which reflect their location and comment on broader topics such as mental health, history, environmental wellbeing and community themes. His first site-specific sculpture – a three dimensional riderless Anzac horse created with driftwood – was at Terrigal Lagoon. It instantly drew local crowds, media coverage and professional photographers were keen to capture its beauty in-situ amongst the Terrigal landscape.

“It started with the little war horse in Terrigal. I picked up a piece of effervescence and started making it. People started calling out to me, saying that it made their day,” he explains

After such a positive and exciting response, Pete has worked regularly to create more artworks like this.

There has been a lot of  recent publicity surrounding these amazing sculptures including exclusive interviews with the Guardian UK and more locally on ABC Artworks (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and Channel 7’s Better Homes and Gardens. However when not working on these large creations, Pete prefers to return his focus to painting. His most recent body of work is figurative and features surf bathers at Terrigal Beach. Two of these gorgeous paintings are now available at KAB Gallery Terrigal and a series of miniature sculptures are planned for exhibition this summer season. (Register for catalogues: HERE )

The Morning

Evening Bather

Pete Rush has been a painter his entire life. After his first solo exhibition in New Zealand at the age of 15, he moved to Sydney to become part of the well respected Barry Stern Gallery stable in Paddington. Around that time he was also a finalist in the prestigious Blake Prize. Currently he is a finalist in the Gosford Art Prize for a painting of one of his sculptures. It’s a large work spanning 1.8m wide, created using the unique medium of cuttlefish ink.

In tandem with his art career, Pete enjoyed a 20-year career in advertising as an award-winning copywriter. His skill with the creativity of words and language was well utilised across his blue-chip client accounts such as Qantas, Optus, Telstra, Coca Cola. In his spare time he managed to write and make children’s books and short films – two of which became finalists in the Cannes Film Festival. Moving to the Central Coast 2 years ago, Pete took to making sculptures on the beach as a response to Covid. The public response was overwhelming and sparked international art collector interest.

Peter Rush is a 2021 finalist in the Gosford Art Prize and has been part of many significant exhibitions and commercial installation projects.

About the author

Kerry-Anne Blanket

Director & Curator - KAB Gallery

KAB Gallery’s Kerry-Anne Blanket holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts and two Masters degrees (Hons) from the University of Sydney. With an extensive career in art education along with the management of museums and investment art galleries, Kerry-Anne can offer premier art consulting to her clients and source specially requested works. 

She has a keen eye for detail, comprehensive art market knowledge and a love of all things beautiful. Kerry-Anne works directly with artists and collectors alike to curate interesting and eclectic exhibitions.