Russell Gordon was born in 1968 in Maryland. He began drawing at an early age. He says “In those days in school you could read or draw as soon as you were finished with an assignment so I learned that the benefit of doing well in class was the privilege of being left alone to draw. I loved drawing and found art to be the best way to record what I saw in nature and to express ideas and emotions.”
Russell Gordon was born in 1968 in Maryland. He began drawing at an early age. He says “In those days in school you could read or draw as soon as you were finished with an assignment so I learned that the benefit of doing well in class was the privilege of being left alone to draw. I loved drawing and found art to be the best way to record what I saw in nature and to express ideas and emotions.”
Later on Russell received his undergraduate and graduate art education at the Schuler School of Fine Arts in Baltimore. He now lives in upstate New York with his wife, Cynthia who is also an artist.
With subjects ranging from tabletop still lifes to florals, nudes to naturalistic studies, Russell Gordon’s works evoke an old world feel but often with a decidedly contemporary twist. These richly detailed and carefully composed paintings reflect Dutch Golden Era and Italian Renaissance sensibilities, yet remind us that simple and natural beauty are timeless and unchanged.
Often combining layered symbolism and a subtle wit, Russell builds each work with carefully applied layers of oil paint and a strong sense of light and dark. Worked directly from life, the paintings invite the eye into windows of alternate but convincing reality without hesitation or reluctance. Viewers are often reminded of 17th-century Dutch vanitas themes which hint at life’s fragility while reveling in its pleasures. His work playfully involves contemporary subject matters in often ancient mythic narratives. The result is thought provoking and ultimately satisfying to both the eye and the mind.
In 1996, Russell Gordon won first prize for still lifes in the Annual National Open juried show sponsored by The Artist’s Magazine. He was also the featured cover artist on American Artist Magazine (April 2000) and received a Juror’s Mention award from the Butler Institute of American Art in June 2000. His work has been exhibited in the national open juried shows of the Allied Artists of America (1994 and 1995), the American Artists Professional League (1995), and the Oil Painters of America (1996).
