Christopher Russell • Artwork

Spending a lot of time looking at things is one of the privileges of working as as artist. For me, drawing and sculpting are extended processes of looking, of studying, of understanding. This gives me the opportunity to sit with, and really see, whatever it is around me that interests me, be it an insect, or a decorative object, or a landscape. Drawing and sculpting are both my chance to look at a subject and, then, to say to someone else, “This is amazing, you have got to see this.” I like to think that the time, care, and focus that I put into understanding a subject, and then into portraying that subject, bring people in, to share what I am looking at and marveling at. This can happen on an intimate scale, with a small wall piece inspired by the incredible structure of a grain of pollen. It can also happen on a wider, community scale. In my project for MTA Arts for Transit and Urban Design, “Bees for Sunset Park”, I tried to give to the passing city traveler a moment to think about the beautiful intricacy of nature, and maybe to remember that they are part of the natural world, and, with all the bustling about, not that different from Nature's other inhabitants. This show and tell is a central pleasure of my work.