Russ Warren


Russ Warren is a contemporary figurative painter who has exhibited extensively throughout the U.S. and abroad, notably in the 1981 Whitney Biennial and the 1984 Venice Biennale. A painter in the Neo-Expressionist style, he has drawn inspiration from Spanish masters such as Velázquez, Goya and Picasso, as well as from Mexican folk art and the American southwest. Committed to his own Regionalist style during his formative years in Texas and New Mexico, he was picked up by Phyllis Kind in 1981. During those years he transitioned to a style characterized by "magical realism", and his work came to rely on symbol allegory, and unusual shifts in scale. Throughout his career, his paintings and prints have featured flat figures, jagged shadows, and semi-autobiographical content. His oil paintings layer paint, often incorporate collage, and usually contain either figures or horses juxtaposed in strange tableaux.

Formative years 1969–1973

Born in 1951 in Washington, D.C., Russ Warren began his studies under Earl Staley at the University of St. Thomas in Houston from 1969 to 1971 and finished his B.F.A. at the University of New Mexico in 1973. His earliest paintings reveal a dedicated study of the early Modernists, such as Cézanne, Kirchner, Matisse, and, especially, Picasso. Still Life with Hands displays an impressive mastery of these influences. The cutouts of the artist's own hands, placed centrally within and over newspaper clippings of the day points to an autobiographical component that will resurface periodically in his work. In 1981, Eva Hesse noticed this in her review of his first solo show in New York, calling the works "private autobiographical paintings that create a mystique of the self."

Regionalism 1973–1979

After graduating from the University of New Mexico in 1973, Warren moved into his own studio in Houston and worked again with his mentor at St. Thomas, Earl Staley, on an installation from the Beaumont Art Museum in which he created huge papier-mâché sculptures of Texas Longhorn, oilmen, businessmen, oversized Stuckey's ash trays in the shape of the state, and other Pop-like images.
In graduate school at the University of Texas, San Antonio, he participated in a program designed as an equivalent to a Ph.D. for artists. He received his M.F.A. in 1977, after completing an in-depth thesis on Regionalism, beginning with the WPA works of the late 1920s and ‘30s, and continuing through the Chicago, California and Texas art movements of the ‘70s. His belief that an artist did not need to become "mainstream" to "make it" in New York seemed to be upheld when on separate occasions both Marcia Tucker, then director of the New Museum, and Tom Armstrong, then director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, gave him "Best in Show" awards. Their recognition led to his participation in the Whitney Biennial of 1981, gallery representation with Phyllis Kind, and inclusion in the 1984 Venice Biennale, among other important exhibitions.

Funky Figurative 1979–1990

After moving from his native Texas to Florida and then to Davidson, North Carolina, Warren's Regionalism gave way to what he has dubbed "Funky Figurative," and others have called "mad cap surrealist", False Image, False Naiveté, New Image, New Wave, and Neo Expressionist art. His repeated trips to Mexico and Spain during these years heightened his interest in folk art and the Spanish masters Velázquez, Goya, and Picasso. His animals and figures, now stripped of all particulars, act and interact as in a strange "Magic Theatre", taking part in what seem to be epic passion plays, often hovering in catastrophic spaces produced by his exaggerated use of shadow and perspective.

Paso Finos & Picasso 1990–2000

In 1990, while developing an art class on Picasso at Davidson College, Warren become obsessed with Paso Fino horses, and they began to populate his paintings. One of his most ambitious and successful series, Mare: A Work in Progress, consists of twenty oil paintings, each measuring 4’ x 7’ or 4’ x 8’. The huge pregnant mare in these works and the house or temple in works leading up to them become the vessel or metaphor for painting itself. Timeless themes of creation and destruction, light and dark, life and death, exist side by side with tongue-in-cheek references to high and low art, as in Elvis Ain’t No Cubist.

Psychoanalytical Portraits 2001–2007

In 2001, Warren returned to basics and to his sketchbooks for a series he refers to as "Psychoanalytical Portraits". The earliest paintings—oil on panel, mostly in black and white, measuring 20" x 16"—are emblems of personal and/or universal angst, recalling the isolation and pain of Munch's Scream and our post-9/11 world. These "portraits" morph into concise analyses of human attitudes and conditions, from isolation and anxiety to union and joy and back again.

From Magic Mountain 2008 – present

When Warren retired from teaching at Davidson College and moved to Charlottesville, VA in 2008, he made a radical departure from the modest in size, jarring in impact, black and white "psychoanalytical portraits" of previous years, paintings that Picasso scholar Lydia Gasman referred to as "brilliant distillations of Picasso," to return to riotous color and large scale. His most recent paintings the artist dubs "humorous nightmares," and they do recall some of his earlier work that Donald Kuspit referred to as "madcap surrealist" in style. For these works he draws freely from his own styles and subjects throughout his 40-year career as well as from some of his favorite artists such as Picasso and Juan Gris. For example, he has painted his own personal version of Picasso's Three Musicians, as well as large still life paintings that reference Juan Gris, in addition to paintings which are reminiscent of some of his earlier work which allude to the magic mountains or magoté he encountered while on a sabbatical in Oaxaca, Mexico. The mountains that recur in these paintings, whether as the main subject, a vista through a window, or painting within a painting in a still life, also undoubtedly mirror some of the mountains and views around Charlottesville.

Livestock Marker Paintings and Sculpture.  2014 - 2015

After receiving a gift of livestock markers in bright shiny colors from a student, Warren was captivated by the fat crayons that are used to mark cattle and how many varied colors it came in. He started experimenting with using them on paper, and continued for several years making paintings of what he dubs "Combines", faces with multiple profiles and frotal views in one, humorous animals, wildflowers, and most emphatically, a series of over 100 bulls.
He also returned to sculpture after seeing the momentous exhibition at MOMA of Picasso's Sculpture, creating a series of animals and figures in painted plaster and found objects.

Selected solo exhibitions

2019 Surrealities, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2017 Russ Warren: New Paintings and Sculpture, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2015 Russ Warren: Medium as Metaphor, Explorations with Livestock Markers, McIntire School of Commerce Gallery, University of Virginia. Charlottesville

2015 Russ Warren: Works, 1971 – 2014, Walker Art Center, Woodberry Forest School, Woodberry Forest, VA; Sarah Moody Art Gallery, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

2015 Russ Warren: Zaragoza, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2014 Russ Warren: La Infanta, Darden Business School, Charlottesville, VA

2013 Russ Warren: Galilee, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2011 Russ Warren: While We Sleep, Les Yeux du Monde

2013 Russ Warren: A Little Night Music, Beverley Street Studio School, Staunton, VA

2011 This I Saw: 100 Tunes of Humor, Death and Lies, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2010 Russ Warren, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
2009 Russ Warren: From Magic Mountain, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville VA

2005 Forgive Us Not, Les Yeux du Monde,Charlottesville VA

2004 Of Deaths and Legends, 2000–2002, Van Every Gallery, Davidson College

2003 From the Sketchbooks, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville VA

2001 Elvis Ain’t No Cubist, Van Every Gallery, Davidson College

1999 Mare: A Work in Progress, Les Yeux du Monde at Starr Hill, Charlottesville VA

1999 Mare: A Work in Progress, Van Every Gallery, Davidson College

1999 New Paintings, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte NC

1992 Caballos de Locura, Christa Faut Gallery, Davidson NC

1991 Classic Fino, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte NC

1989 Bull!, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte NC

1988 Recent Prints and Drawings, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte NC

1987 Recent Works, Jailhouse Gallery, Morganton Arts Council, Morganton NC

1979 - 2007 Recent Paintings, Davidson College Art Gallery, Davidson NC

1986 Russ Warren: Sculpture, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte NC

1985 North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh NC

1985 Drew University Art Gallery, Madison NJ

1984 Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte NC

1984 Emblems of the Unseeable, Knight Gallery, Charlotte NC

1988, ’84, ’82 Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago

1984, ’82, ’81 Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York

1981 High Point Arts Council, High Point NC

1980 University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte NC

1979 Spirit Square Art Gallery, Charlotte NC

1978 Store Front Gallery, Tampa Bay Arts Council, Tampa FL

1977 San Antonio Museum of Modern Art and University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio TX

1975 University of St. Thomas Art Gallery, Houston TX

1972 First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, Albuquerque NM

1972 First National Bank Gallery of Art, Albuquerque NM

1972 Old Town Studio, Albuquerque NM

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019 Picasso, Lydia and Friends, Vol. 4, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2019 Inside the Artists' Studio, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA

2018 The Livestock Marker Show: Gwyn Kohr, Kathy Kuhlmann, Russ Warren, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2017 Southern Hospitality: The Collaborative Work of Wayne Kline and the Rolling Stone Press, Brenau University, Gainesville, GA

2017 Animal Instinct, Jepson Center, Telfair Museum, Savannah, GA

2017 Manger Scene: Paintings and Installations by Pam Black, Virginia Van Horn, Lester Van Winkle, Russ Warren and Aggie Zed, Chroma Projects, Charlottesville, VA

2016 Picasso, Lydia and Friends, Vol. 3, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2014 Picasso, Lydia and Friends, Vol. 2, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2013 Bombay Artisan Series Regional Finalist Exhibition, International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC

2012 Collage: Earl Staley and Russ Warren, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville,VA

2012 Commentary: Exhibition of Southeastern Artists, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC

2012 Picasso, Lydia and Friends, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2011 Picasso: Prints from the Mediterranean; Warren: Bull! Les Yeux du Monde

2007 A Decade of Collecting, University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA

2005 Equus II, curated by Sarah Sargent, The Arts Center in Orange, Orange VA

2004 Gallery Artists, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville VA

2004 The Figure, Inside and Out, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte NC

1998 Moving into the Millennium: Light, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville VA

1999 Moving into the Millennium: Darkness, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville VA

2001 Reconstructing Eden: Contemporary American Landscape Painting, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte NC

2000 North Carolina 20th-Century Masters, Lee Hansley Gallery, Raleigh NC

1992 Somar Invitational Exhibition, Waterworks Visual Art Center, Salisbury NC

1992 Lithography: True Fine Art of Printing, Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory NC

1991 Graphic Figures – Figurative Graphics, 7 American Artists in Cologne, Germany

1991 Art and Social Vision, Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, Greensboro NC

1990 Images of Faith, Kentucky Museum, Northport AL

1989 Looking South: A Different Dixie, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham AL

1989 Made in America, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, Virginia Beach VA

1989 North Carolina Artists Invitational, Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory NC

1988 Vitreographoen, Kunstsammlurger der Veste, Coburg, West Germany

1988-90 41st Corcoran Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1987 Fact/Fiction/Fantasy: Recent Narrative Art in the Southeast, Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN

1987 Warmer Climate—Cool at Night, Spirit Square Arts Center, Charlotte NC

1987 Drawing Redefined, Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, Greensboro NC

1987 North Carolina Artists Exhibition, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh NC

1987 The Crayon Show, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem NC

1987 Luminous Impressions: Prints from Glass Plates, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte NC

1986 Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory NC

1986 Bon a Tirer, Winstone Press and the RJR Gallery, Winston-Salem NC

1986 Dream Faces, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York NY

1986 5th Annual North Carolina Sculpture Invitational, Northern Telecom, Durham NC and Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory NC

1986 Southern Contemporary Artists Invitational, Jacksonville State University and Anniston Museum of Natural History, Anniston AL

1986 Black and White: A Drawing Exhibition, Gallery 29I, Atlanta GA; the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens GA; and Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

1986 The Printed Image: More Than Meets the Eye, Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, Greensboro NC

1986 Artists Outside Chicago, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago IL

1986 Kind at Koplin, Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles CA

1986 in Public Places, Wilmington NC

1986 Four North Carolina Artists, Comma Gallery, Morganton Arts Council, Morganton NC

1986 Prints From Glass, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC

1986 Drawings, Knight Gallery, Spirit Square Arts Center, Charlotte NC

1985 New Figurative Painting, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville NC

1985 Artists Fellowship Exhibition, North Carolina Arts Council, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem NC

1985 The Figure: Form and Expression, Waterworks Gallery, Salisbury NC

1984 USA: Portrait of the South, Palazzo Venezia, Rome, Italy

1984 Here and Now, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville SC

1984 Venice Biennale, US Information Agency and New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Venice, Italy

1984 SECCA VII, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem NC

1983 Southern Fictions, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston TX

1983 Southern Fervor: Religious Iconography in Contemporary Southern Painting, Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA

1983 On the Leading Edge, General Electric Company, Fairfield CT

1983 Painting in the South, Virginia Museum, Richmond VA

1983 Group Show, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York NY

1983 Intoxication, Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York NY

1982 New Painting I: American, Middendorf-Lane Gallery, Washington, D.C.

1982 Beast, P.S. 1, New York

1982 Painting and Sculpture Today, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis IN

1982 Magic in Art, Spirit Square, Charlotte NC

1982 Agitated Figures: The New Emotionalism, Albright-Knox Gallery of Art; Hallways Gallery; and Hal Bromm Gallery, New York NY and Buffalo NY

1982 Figurative Images, Georgia State University Art Gallery, Atlanta GA

1982 The Human Figure in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans LA

1981 Currents: A New Mannerism, Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville FL

1981 Changing Visions, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles CA

1981 Printmaking Group Show, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem NC

1981 Figures: Forms and Expressions, Albright-KnoxGallery, Buffalo NY

1981 Contemporary Drawings, University of California at Santa Barbara CA

1981 Whitney Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of Art, New York NY

1980 New Orleans Triennial, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans LA

1980 Tragicomedy, Mystery, and Humor, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh NC

1980 Dog Show, Raleigh Museum of Art, Collectors Gallery, Raleigh NC

1980 48th Southeastern Competition, SECCA,Winston-Salem NC

1979 Rutgers Drawing ’79, Rutgers University, Camden NJ

1979, ’78 Shelby Annual Juried Exhibition, Shelby NC

1979 Regional Exhibition, Arts Festival of Atlanta GA

1979 Appalachian National Drawing Competition, Farthing Art Gallery, Boone NC

1979 Boston Printmakers 31st Annual, Boston MA

1979 Biennial Exhibition, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte NC

1979 Recent Prints, Winthrop College, Rock Hill SC

1979 Chiaha Regional Exhibition, First National Bank, Rome GA

1979 Charlotte Printmakers Exhibition, Charlotte Observer Building, Charlotte NC

1979, ’77, ’76 Houston Area Exhibition, Sarah Cambell Blaffer Gallery Annex, Houston TX

1979 Art of the Carolinas traveling exhibition, Spring Mills, Fort Mill SC

1977 Amarillo Art Competition, Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo TX

1977 Bosch Bash, University of St. Thomas, Houston TX

1976 Artists Invitational, Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont TX

1976, ’75 Winners Exhibition and Artists Biennial, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans LA

1976 Christmas Print and Drawing Exhibition, San Antonio Museum of Modern Art, San Antonio TX

1975 Southeast Texas Collective, Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont TX

Selected catalogues