Artist: Richard Russell

Medium: Collage on Paper

Size: 14" x 14"

About the Artist:
b. 1965, Pensacola, FL Lives in Atlanta, GA

Richard Russell began making collages in elementary school. Following two years at Florida School of the Arts in Palatka, Florida, and with his eyes set on a future in Graphic Design, he migrated to the Atlanta College of Art. Upon being advised by a faculty member that the fine arts had no place in design, he abandoned his ad agency goals to find passion in other mediums and finally graduated with a BFA in Photography in 1990. (Ironically, he has been a graphic designer and art director for the past 2 decades.) Throughout his career as an artist, he has continued to work in various combinations of collage, photography, and artists' book formats. As a maker of books, he is fascinated by the rapid decline of this object as both a vehicle of communication and an art form. He has exhibited in solo and group shows across the U.S. and Europe (and possibly Japan, but this can't be verified.) His work is part of major venues including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Virginia Commonwealth University, the New York Public Library, and the Sackner Collection of Visual and Concrete Poetry in Miami, as well as many private collections around the world. In 2008, he was honored to be selected one of the Top Five Finalists for the Forward Arts Foundation's Emerging Artist of the Year Award and in 2009 as a Fellow at the Hambidge Center for Arts and Sciences.