Artist Statement
Working loosely within the genre of landscape painting, I explore my relationship with the natural world. I have been trying to create an artistic process that necessitates spending time outside, something vital to my general wellbeing. Starting from my experiences outside, my observations playfully interact with experimentation and the formal act of painting. I am interested in a painting that becomes an image of the process of its creation; exploring tension between illusionistic realism, gesture and the materiality of paint. I aim for a balance that works as a painting and relates to the chaos and balance that is omnipresent in the dense layered flora of the Northwest landscape.
CV
Education:
2006 B.F.A. with High Distinction in Painting and Drawing, California College of the Arts
Awards:
2005 The Mikae Hara Scholarship
2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 CCA Creative Achievement Award
Residencies:
2012 Summer Martin Artists in Residency Program, Piedmont, Italy
Solo and Two Person Exhibitions:
2022 After Life, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, Ca
2020 Our New Age, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, Or
2019 Wild Flowers, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, Ca
2019 Ramble, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, Or
2017 Naturalize, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, Or
2014 Ebb, Loczi Design Curated by Cult Exhibitions, San Francisco, Ca
2012 Solid Rock, Galleria Glance, Turin, Italy
2010 High Points, Galleria Glance, Turin, Italy
2010 Fort Big Mountain, 111 Minna, San Francisco, Ca
2009 Contemplating Her Infinite Disguise, Gallery Extraña, Berkeley, Ca
2009 You Are So Balanced; I don't Want to Complicate Things, Park Life, San Francisco, Ca
2008 Part of Everything, Rowan Morrison, Oakland, Ca
2007 AK or Bust, Art D’Core, Danville, Ca
2006 Kari Morris & Chris Russell, Boontling Gallery, Oakland, Ca
2006 Searching For Water, Bruce Gallery, San Francisco, Ca
Group Exhibitions:
2020 Holiday Group Exhibition, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, Or
2020 Celebrating Wild Beauty, Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, Or
2020 December Group Exhibition, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, Or
2019 Holiday Group Exhibition, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, Or
2018 In Bloom, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, Or
2017 A Necessary Festival, Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, Or
2016 New Views, Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, Or
2014 Transitions, Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art, San Francisco, Ca
2014 Inspirational Places, Cripta della Chiesa bizantina di S Michele Arcangelo
Piazza Cavour, Turin, Italy
2012 December Group Show, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, Ca
2012 Panoramas & People, Cultural Park of Le Serra Grugliasco, Turin, Italy
2012 Paper Cuts, Dogliani, Italy
2011 Inaugural Group Show, DK Kalchuga Deko Bazar, Moscow, Russia
2011 The Wandering Flood Moves Through Us, Fivepoints Arthouse, San Francisco, Ca
2010 Inaugural Group Show, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, Ca
2010 I Want to Feel at Home Here, Milepost 5, Portland, Or
2009 This Is The End Of The World As We Know It, MOHS Exhibit, Copenhagen, Dk
2009 Babylon, Swift Pigeon Studios, Oakland, Ca
2009 Improvised Branches, Art@Oakbook, Oakland, Ca
2008 RoMoLoCo 2, Rowan Morrison, Oakland, Ca
2008 Natural Synthesis, Adaptive Path, San Francisco, Ca
2008 Freak of Nature, 111 Mina, San Francisco, Ca
2008 Resurrection, Lobot Gallery, Oakland Ca
2008 Seth Armstrong, Michael Young and Chris Russell, Forthrite, Oakland, Ca
2008 What’s Up, Swift Pigeon Studios, Oakland, Ca
2007 RoMoLoCo, Rowan Morrison, Oakland, Ca
2007 Alumni at the Centennial, Oliver Art Center, Oakland, Ca
2006 Joy Ride, Don O'Melveny Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca
2006 The Magic Stones in the Secret Cave, The Floral Gallery, Fruitvail, Ca
2006 You, Me, Now, Hangar 1018, Los Angeles, Ca
2006 Senior Painting Show, Oliver Art Center, Oakland, Ca
2006 Velotree, Space Gallery, San Francisco, Ca
2006 Awesome: The Contemporary Sublime, The PlaySpace Gallery, San Francisco, Ca
2005 Tautologicolloquialligature, North South Gallery, Oakland, Ca
2005 All-College Honors & Scholarship Awards Exhibition, Oliver Art Center, Oakland, Ca
2005 Expo, Thomas Bruce West Gallery, San Francisco, Ca
2005 The Drawing Show, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, Co
2005 Overhung, Boontling Gallery, Oakland, Ca
2005 A Bahl Beemsh, Boontling Gallery, Oakland, Ca
Public Art:
Tree, Collaboration hanging at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Berkeley, Ca
Bio
Born in Boulder, Colorado, Chris Russell earned his BFA from California College of the Arts in 2006. After ten years in the Bay Area, Russell spent the summer of 2012 in Piedmont, Italy as Martin Arts artist in residence. His work has been exhibited throughout the California Bay Area, Italy and Oregon. Chris Russell lives and works in Portland, Oregon.