Valentine c. 1938

This Valentine was made by Rex F. Bush, but we don't know exactly when. What strikes me first is the level of detail, the precision of the cuts, the care with which each heart is inscribed with text. It's a testament to the slow, deliberate process of creation, one where each snip of the scissors is a meaningful gesture. The paper itself has a delicate, almost translucent quality, and the incisions and the writing upon the hearts create an interplay of light and shadow, texture and depth. The artist has inscribed these open heart shapes with text, maybe love letters or poems, making the piece all the more personal. Around the edges the artist has made careful incisions creating shapes and abstract forms. It reminds me a little of the work of Ree Morton, another artist who embraced sentimentality and craft in her work. But where Morton's work is often boisterous and maximalist, Bush's Valentine is quiet and intimate, a whispered confession of love on a piece of paper. It shows that art is not always about grand gestures or elaborate statements, but about the simple act of making, of giving form to our emotions and experiences.