Christopher Russell
Mountain XXV, 2017

Pigment print scratched with a razor, 16 x 24 inches
Unique, signed on mount, verso
Framed
Courtesy of the artist and Gitterman Gallery
Estimated value: $4,900

Each work by Christopher Russell is unique and combines color photography and drawing. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Russell has long been taken with the majesty of Carleton Watkins, who photographed that area and others 150 years ago. Russell photographs in some of the same land but from the opposite end of the history of photography. He makes fuzzy or hazy color photographs by limiting the functionality of the lens. The resulting abstract images form the foundation for his own imaginary vistas. He then manipulates the resulting prints, scratching into the emulsion and sometimes painting over the scratches, creating an artwork that is at once a photograph, a drawing, a painting, and a bas-relief.

About the Artist:
Christopher Russell

Christopher Russell (b.1974, Sacramento, CA) received a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA, and an MFA from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA. He has had a solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and his work has been featured in group exhibitions at the J. Paul Getty Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL; Berkeley Art Museum; Armory Center for the Arts, Boston; White Columns, New York; Tokyo Institute of Photography; and De Appel Arts Center, Netherlands; among others.

Russell also produces his own unique books in addition to his ’zine "Bedwetter." His first novel is Sniper, and his other books include Budget Decadence (2nd Cannons Publications), Pattern Book (Insert Blanc Press), and Landscape (Kolapsomal Press), which was included in Phaidon's The Photobook: A History, volume 3, edited by Martin Parr.

His work is included in numerous museum collections, including the Brooklyn Museum; the J. Paul Getty Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Los Angeles County Museum; Rhode Island School of Design Museum; Hammer Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Norton Museum of Art; and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

Website: christopherrussell.art | gittermangallery.com
Instagram: @gittermangallery