San Francisco Reading

I will be reading at Second Floor Projects in San Francisco, 3740 25th street, no.205. San Francisco, on December the 4th at 3:00 pm. Please come by and hear a selection from my new book, Sniper.

If you can't make it, but would like to check out the book It's available in the following locations:

Toronto: Art Metropole (online ordering for Canadians)
New York: Printed Matter (online ordering available)
Los Angeles: MOCA Bookstore
Los Angeles:Hammer Bookstore
Los Angeles: Skylight Books (Under New Fiction or in their art book shop.)
Los Angeles: Luis De Jesus (La Cienega Blvd.)
Los Angeles: 2nd Cannons at LTD (Sunset Blvd.)
San Diego: Double Break
Internet: Amazon.com (a fresh batch just shipped, so if you're in America, but not near New York or So. Cal they in a few days they should be fully stocked.)

Fioction Reading

I keep forgetting to post things on my blog. I have been having a mini-book tour, and haven't even posted the dates on here. In the past was a reading at Double Break in San Diego. It's a great little shop that sells books and accessories and shows quality works of art from local artists. www.doublebreakstore.com

I also went out to New York and Read my work at Printed Matter, the venerable non-profit that has been helping artists/small/self publishers get their ideas out into the world for the past 20+ years. www.printedmatter.org

On the 18th of October, I will be reading at The Standard in Hollywood as part of Artillery Magazine's reading series. There is a wine reception at 7:00 pm and the reading begins at 8:00. www.artillerymag.com

On the 6th of November, I will be reading at Second Floor Projects in San Francisco. Space is very limited, so please email me for details. projects2ndfloor.blogspot.com

If you're looking for a copy of Sniper, it's Currently available at the following locations:

Online:
Art Metropole
Printed Matter
Amazon.com
2ndcannons.com

In Person:
Los Angeles
Skylight Books (Shelved with New Fiction, not Art.)
MoCA Bookstore
Hammer Museum Bookstore

San Diego
Double Break

New York
Printed Matter

Totonto:
Art Metropole

Or contact me christopher@russellarchive.com

Sniper: Now Available

My novel/artists book, Sniper, is now available. The following are pictures from the various chapters, followed by a description. The book is being shipped this week and will be available at Amazon.com, Printed Matter (NY), and Skylight Books (LA). If those aren't convenient options, please contact me directly, christopher@russellarchive.com, and I'll make sure you can get a book.

"Sniper takes a very loose and imaginary look at The Baltimore Snipers, examining the relationships of paired serial killers as an ultimate expression of repressed desire. Russell writes a perverse version of the classic American love story told through the narrative chaos of nameless characters, past-life flashbacks, false recollection, parental and bureaucratic influence that define the psychological space of the outsider. The text's 200 pages are profusely illustrated, reproducing Russell s first set of drawings scratched into photographic emulsion, which has now become his signature style. The release of Sniper revives the Bedwetter brand, which achieved notoriety during its 12 issue existence with a destroy-to-enjoy design strategy and an embrace of difficult literary and visual material. With Sniper, Russell has created a design and layout that makes the process of reading its own adventure."

Sniper Reading, Cheap Edition, etc.

The bound proofs of my novel, Sniper, have arrived, been approved and are making their way across the ocean as I type. I expect to have the first copies available in mid April. In the meantime, I am doing a reading of sorts through Tucker Neel's 323 projects, and I've made an edition of photographs to support Turker's project.

First, the edition. It's titled Uncut, and is a portfolio of 4, 9x12 images. The images come as a single uncut 18x24 page. The back is signed in four places, so the collector has the option of cutting the piece down to 4 signed images, or keeping it as a single sheet. Tucker's price is $150 and the edition size is 10. (This is comically cheap for my work --$37.50 for each 9x12 image in the set, as a means of helping out an interesting project.) http://323projects.artcodeinc.com/pages/support/

Now for my 323 Projects "show." Christopher Russell will divide his forthcoming novel, Sniper, into 30 pieces divided equally by word count. He will read each morning’s selection upon waking. At the completion of his 323 Projects exhibition, the entire novel will have been read.

Sniper takes an imaginary look at the Baltimore Snipers. Russell proposes the relationships of paired serial killers as an ultimate expression of repressed desire. He writes a perverse version of the classic American love story told through the narrative chaos of nameless characters, past-life flashbacks, false recollection, parental and bureaucratic influence.

The release of Sniper revives the Bedwetter brand, which achieved notoriety during its 12 issue existence with a destroy-to-enjoy design strategy and embrace of difficult literary and visual material.

The "show" runs from 25 March to 22 April, 2011. To hear each day's reading, dial 323-843-4652.

LA Art Fair, New Work

Here are the pieces that will be on display at the Art LA Contemporary, January 27-30 at The Barker Hanger in Santa Monica. I will have a full wall at the Luis De Jesus Los Angeles booth, along with my the extraordinary LA based painter, Heather Gwen Martin and international provocateur Federico Solmi.

Framing Exercise #7

While this work has been largely about using frames from illuminated manuscripts to frame the image, so that the frame of the picture relates to a type of literary framing that helps make sense of how the literary and the photographic overlap in my work. This is an attempt at interrogating that relationship, replacing parts of the literary frame with sections of pattern.

Framing Exercise #8

The photograph is surprising, because the effect in person is one of silver sheen with accents of blues and copper. The image isn't scratched into, just pushed to the background, observable through the paint.

Framing Exercise #9

Here I was trying to break down the frame more, make it conform a bit more to the style of manipulations I'm using, rather than copying directly from historical sources.

Framing Exercise #10

Who can resist a big silver swath of cabbage roses?

Framing Exercise #11

I like to think that it's bleeding copper in the upper left corner.

Framing Exercise #12

Black with a silver mist, while the white paper that's exposed by scratching remains white.

In Framing Exercise #13, there is a cut away area that exposes a drawing of a leafy wallpaper pattern in the upper left corner. It's the first time I've scratched through to expose something beneath.

This is how Framing Exercise #13 looks during the night time.

Framing Exercise #14.

This is how Framing Exercise #14 looks glowing in the dark.