Robert Russell
Photo: Chad Unger
Robert Russell (b. 1971, Kansas City, MO) is a conceptual painter whose work returns to ideas of memory, iconography, and mortality in a personal painting language that treat ordinary objects—cups, books, figurines, candles—as vessels of personal history and ritual. Working in a subdued palette and precise contemplative approach, he explores how images can be sanctified by attention: how repetition, gesture, and witness can transform the mass-produced form into a site of devotion. Across series—from his imagined artist monograph ‘Book’ series and engulfing ‘Teacups’ to portraits of Judaica objects—Russell’s work holds grief, memory, and survival in tension with sublime beauty and everyday function. His latest series, including Porzellan Manufaktur Allah, Stateless Objects and the Yahrzeit candles, extend these inquiries into how objects become witnesses of history and repositories of truth and meaning.
Russell completed his MFA at The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Valencia, CA and his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence, RI. Russell has had solo exhibitions at galleries including Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA;The Cabin, Los Angeles, CA; Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, B.C., Canada; LA><ART, Los Angeles, CA; François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; BIg Pond Artworks, Munich, Germany;and OSMOS Station, Stamford, NY. His work has been exhibited in group shows including Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Material Press MOCA LA, Los Angeles, CA; M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles, CA; and Gavlak Projects, Palm Beach, FL. Russell lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
