Web Updates Coming!

A detail of Ami Tallman's mural that was located at 7065 Lexington, Los Angeles

A tiny picture of the quite large Hammer Projects book.

Over the coming weeks, my webmaster, Zachry Horn, will be adding text descriptions to the various galleries on this site. You'll be able to read a few sentences about what you're looking at instead of simply wading through 15 years worth of images! Dates will be added to the galleries to provide a sense of when various projects were completed, and in what order different bodies of work were made.

Circus Gallery no longer exists. Even Ami Tallman's beautiful mural, for which she received a Durfee ARC Grant, has been painted over. The Masons have started a gallery called Affinity that operates in the erstwhile Circus building, while Circus' esteemed Director, John Knuth, is now the LA Director of Country Club Projects.

In October, will begin showing with an energetic young gallery that just moved from San Diego to Bergamot Station, Luis De Jesus. (luisdejesus.com)

I'd also like to mention my inclusion in the beautifully published book Hammer Projects 1999-2009. It's an impressive, slip cased, volume that I'm extremely proud to be a part of. If you didn't get a copy of Amy Gerstler's exceptional essay when the show was up, it's reprinted here.

Budget Decadence on 2nd Canons Publications

Finally! Some images from my new book on 2nd Cannons Publications. I've loaded the cover, some of the artwork that divides the chapters in the book and some of the borders that contain the text of the story. There is a chapter of the text in the 'writings' section of the website.

From the publisher (2ndcannons.com):

Budget Decadence Christopher Russell's small-novel, Budget Decadence, uses a non-event-based style of fiction to explore commodity as an aspect of Middle American psychology. The book looks back to the J.K. Huysmans novel, A Rebours, and unfolds the deep psychological malaise of the nuclear family based on the various characters' understanding of, and interaction with, the curated collection of common objects that comprise each character's identity. Russell uses the text from his recent solo exhibition at The Hammer Museum. He mixes his writing and photographs with collages of engravings that comprise a devotional book, an ode to the dark and self destructive fantasies of Middle America. The deluxe edition of Budget Decadence includes an archival inkjet print entitled Decorate Your Room Kit, an 8x10" photograph of an empty room with detachable instructions for defacing/co-authoring the work. Signed/numbered edition of 10.-Deluxe edition soldout

2nd Cannons Publications 021 2009, 1st printing, edition of 500. 8.5 x 5.5" 84 pages $18.00