LA Times Review from Christopher Knight!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/10/art-review-christopher-russell-at-luis-de-jesus-gallery.html

Art review: Christopher Russell at Luis de Jesus Gallery

October 28, 2010 | 7:00 pm

Romantic literature and its predecessors are filled with shipwrecks — Byron, Defoe, Poe, Shakespeare, Swift, etc. Even Homer's tale had Odysseus tossed about at sea by supernatural forces. The ship as an emblem of life's journey through the unknown — at once beautiful, thrilling and treacherous — and its eventual wreckage as a necessary platform for renewal have served lots of writers well.

Shipwrecks are at the core of Christopher Russell's new work at Luis De Jesus, his first show with the gallery, in both an artist's book and a large group of quirky drawings. The collective title, “Runaway,” comes across as having several meanings. Partly it's a traditional description of the artist as fugitive from society (as romantic a notion as there is for an artist's role). Partly it's an urgent command to his audience, suggesting that they join him. And partly it characterizes the runaway torrent of imagery that constantly crashes into contemporary life, from which there is hardly any escape.

Many of Russell's drawings begin with rustic landscape photographs that are the opposite of technological — a remote forest stream, tree limbs draped in Spanish moss, a frozen lake and especially a rocky gorge — which he brings into the fold by manipulation in the computer. Doubled, flopped, patterned like kaleidoscope chips, the photograph becomes a color ink-jet print that, in its largest format (as much as 7 feet tall) has the creepy look and claustrophobic feel of scaly Victorian wallpaper. Russell draws on it — not with a pencil or brush but with a sharp stylus or blade, scratching away the surface to reveal the white paper beneath.

The technique is quietly effective, at its best exuding a feral quality of clawing for release from domestic confinement. Like Robert Rauschenberg erasing a drawing by Willem de Kooning, it also acknowledges the authority of pervasive digital imagery while declining to be limited by it. The show would benefit from some editing (there’s too much to take in), but the old-fashioned four-masted schooners that emerge throughout as negative spaces amid the encroaching gloom assume a ghostly quality of positive release.

--Christopher Knight

@twitter.com/KnightLAT

Luis De Jesus Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 453-7773, through Nov. 27. Closed Sundays and Mondays. www.luisdejesus.com

Photo: Christopher Russell, "Runaway," 2010 (installation view); Credit: Luis de Jesus Gallery

Times Review

I'm currently in a group show at Kinkead Contemporary, curated- or um, orchestrated by Whitney Carter, and reviewed in the LA times. The show has been extended to 28 August.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/08/stille-post-7-curators-7-artists-at-kinkead-contemporary.html

I am also in a show at LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division), curated by Shamim Momin, around the corner from Kinkead, so if you find yourself in or around Culver City check 'em out.

Fund Raising

Dear Friends,

I have received a grant from Printed Matter to print my novel, Sniper, and it is currently being edited by the renown poet, Amy Gerstler. The thing is, I need a little more money to make the book exactly the way I want it, 1,000 copies, full color, hard bound, all the design fun you’d expect from the publisher of Bedwetter. Please consider supporting my project with one of the following options

1) A copy of the book when it arrives in early 2011, with an original bookplate and a hand written note of thanks as well as acknowledgment in the book itself. $30.

2) A copy of the book when it arrives in early 2011, with an original bookplate and a hand written note of thanks as well as acknowledgment in the book itself AND an 8x10 signed copy of the image “I’d Like to Thank” One of the most overlooked images in my oeuvre. $75.

3) A copy of the book when it arrives in early 2011, with an original bookplate and a hand written note of thanks as well as acknowledgment in the book itself. AND an 18x24 print of the cover image, Untitled (Stained Glass). This is one of my favorite images from this project. $250

Of course I’m always open to making deals. Want to pre-order a bunch of books? Want a drawing made especially for you? Let me know.

Thank you for considering support for my project. You may send funds through Paypal to: crussell3@yahoo.com. All proceeds will be used to support the publication and promotion of my novel. Please make your contribution no later that 26 July, 2010. Domestic postage is covered, please contact me for international shipping. Photographs will be mailed in late August. Books will be mailed once the completed edition arrives in early 2011.

Best,
Christopher Russell

The 18x24 image you will receive as a thank you for a $250 contribution.

The 8x10 image you will receive as a thank you for a $75 contribution.

Printed Matter Grant

I just received word that I have been awarded a Printed Matter Awards for Artists grant to assist in the publication of my novel. To make the book the way I want to make it, I am still going to have to do a little bit of fund raising, but this grant makes it completely possible. A novel, my way. Full color images, eccentric layouts. I'm hoping to have it edited and ready to send to the printers by the end of this year.

Also, a cool, very short, video of David Richards and Geoff Tuck sowing off one of my artist's books:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1407906071433

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

South by South West Festival

I've been very slow to add updates to my site, but wanted to share this. I'm a part of Shamim Momin's project for the South by South West Festival. I am particularly excited to be showing with some of my favorite artists: Sue de Beer, Matt Greene, Anna Sew Hoy, Sterling Ruby and Adam Putnam of the legendary Into the Abyss 'zine.