Russell Young

Russell Young (b. 1959) is a British-American artist known for large-scale silkscreen paintings that examine fame, beauty, excess, and the darker mythology surrounding celebrity culture and the American Dream. Born in Yorkshire, England, Young first built a career in photography and film, photographing musicians and cultural figures before turning fully to painting. His work frequently draws on iconic images of figures such as Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, and Kurt Cobain, transforming familiar photographs through high-contrast palettes, repetition, and materials such as diamond dust and shellac. The seductive surfaces of these works heighten the glamour of their subjects while simultaneously pointing to the fragility, addiction, violence, and mortality that often accompany public fame. Young’s use of diamond dust, which became a significant part of his practice in the 2000s, gives his images a luminous, almost excessive beauty that reinforces the tension between attraction and unease at the center of his work. In addition to celebrity portraiture, his practice has expanded to include flowers, landscapes, abstraction, sculpture, installation, and film, while retaining an ongoing interest in cultural memory and the construction of iconic imagery. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in collections including the Albertina Museum, the Saatchi Collection, the Cornell Art Museum, and the White House Collection. Collectors of his work have included Brad Pitt, Elizabeth Taylor, and Kanye West.

Available Works

BARDOT THUNDER
2023
Acrylic, oil based ink and diamond dust hand pulled screen print on linen
48 x 63 inches
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MARILYN CRYING DIAMOND
2024
Acrylic, oil based ink and diamond dust hand pulled screen print on linen
62 x 48 inches
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