FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2021
Russell Young’s WEST is an epic, complex vision of the “Wild West” and its legacy
Artist Russell Young silkscreen series WEST, originally debuting at the Modern Art Museum Shanghai, makes first appearance in US
at Art Angels Gallery in LA
Los Angeles, CA – British-American artist Russell Young, renowned for his diamond-dusted silkscreen paintings of icons, exhibits his expansive series, WEST, exploring the “Wild West” and its cultural impact, to the US for the first time at Art Angels Gallery in Los Angeles.
With the scope of an epic poem and the intimacy of personal fantasies, WEST is the culmination of a lifelong love affair with the American West. Growing up in Northern England, Young often watched Western films to escape from the council estates surrounding him and to see wide open vistas that promised freedom. As an artist who eventually immigrated to the US after photographing the early gigs of some of our most recognized music artists—The Smiths, Bauhaus, R.E.M.—Young offers a compelling perspective on how the lure of the “Wild West” perpetuates dreams of venturing into the “frontier” and how the American Dream is an ongoing and complicated journey.
WEST engages with imagery and issues far beyond the expectations of the genre. From the treatment of Indigenous people to modern gun culture to the commercialization of cowboys into advertisements, Young draws attention to erased histories, overlooked subcultures, and controversial infatuations that make up the American drama.
A collection of large-scale, hand-pulled silkscreen paintings, made with one-of-a-kind handmade pigments, WEST features the likes of Clarence Hailey “C.H.” Long (the inspiration for the Marlboro Man), Cheyenne Chiefs, Hells Angels, 70s big wave Hawaiian surf photography, NASCAR racers, rodeos, revolvers, and many others. Some silkscreen paintings are stitched together, evoking the anamorphic widescreen of Western films.
“With this body of work, Young invests a heartfelt, poetic belief in its characters and players, whom he feels represent today’s modern America,” writes Robin Barton, about some of the images that comprise WEST that originally debuted at the Modern Art Museum Shanghai.
This is the first time WEST will exhibit in the US and will travel throughout the American Southwest. Art Angels Gallery is honored to debut this series in the US after a 15 year long relationship with the artist.
The exhibition will run June 15, 2021 – July 6, 2021 at Art Angels Gallery.
About WEST
Russell Young’s WEST taps into our most primal instincts and our most grandiose dreams. Living and painting on what Young calls the “edge of America,” this large body of work looks upon wide open vistas that expand our understanding of freedom, danger, and possibility.
The journey towards these vistas begins in the anamorphic widescreens of Western films that Young watched growing up in Northern England. These fantasies eventually led him to America, where he has roamed ever since, unafraid to embody a land full of contradictions.
In WEST, Young both venerates and pulls apart “Wild West” mythology to reveal the many prisms that underscore the particularly American need for reinvention even when it sacrifices truth. Young makes no such sacrifice; instead he holds all the things we choose to love and choose to erase in equal measure.
The series features imagery, references, and obsessions of Young’s own world built within the larger framework of the American drama. The spaghetti westerns he watched in his youth, NASCAR racers before they were safely regulated, 70s big wave Hawaiian surf photography, California girls, Hells Angels, nickel plated revolvers, bison, rodeos, the Marlboro Cowboy before he was commercialized into oblivion, Native American chiefs before they, too, were almost driven into oblivion—they all debut in Young’s quest to confront and interrogate the idealization of the American Southwest.
The breadth of this ever-expanding body of work is matched only by Young’s impulse to venture into the deserts and forests and oceans of America, to go as far west as possible.
I am rain, horses, whiskey,
murder, chaos, terror, gasoline,
lust, heartbreak, damnation, love,
Hollywood, lost, paranoia, horror,
violence, redemption, rattlesnakes,
sage, desert, raven, rolling thunder,
Hells Angel, cowboys, girls,
rustlers, riot, cold wind,
the Pacific and dust and death and God.
West.
About Russell Young
Russell Young is a British-American artist best known for his large scale silkscreen paintings that have been collected by the likes of Barack Obama, Drake, Kate Moss, and many others. His first breakthrough was his photography of George Michael for the sleeve of the album Faith in 1987. Young photographed many music stars throughout the years including Morrissey, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, REM, The Smiths, Bauhaus, Diana Ross, Paul Newman, Björk, and many others. He also went on to shoot over 100 music videos for leading artists during MTV’s height in the 1990s.
Young’s current practice started with his sold-out show Pig Portraits in Los Angeles in the 2000s, when he began screen printing and incorporating his famous use of diamond dust. The many series that have followed have exhibited across the world in numerous galleries alongside masterclass artists, institutions, and cultural figures.
He currently lives in Southern California.
Website: www.russellyoung.com
Instagram: @bankrobbercalifornia
About Art Angels
With flagship galleries in Los Angeles and Miami and permanent art curations in Nobu Hotel & Eden Roc Hotel Miami Beach, The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami, and Catch Restaurant Los Angeles, Art Angels was founded in 2013 by Jacquelin Napal and Kat Emery. Art Angels’ contemporary and provocative style has attracted collectors from around the world. Art Angels describe themselves as a premium luxury brand who are inviting and very approachable. The gallery exhibits a selection of both established and emerging artists, offering a truly eclectic mix for their clientele.
Showcasing a number of barrier breaking exhibitions, including David Yarrow, Russell Young, Flore, Nick Veasey and Mike Dargas to name a few, the gallery was quick to build a cult following—so much so that they expanded their Los Angeles gallery to the East Coast. The rapidly successful gallery has become the go-to destination for artists and collectors alike, who want to be a part of something visionary and unique. Now one of the leading galleries in Los Angeles and a major player in the art and creativity sphere, the gallery has a core team of art specialists dedicated to providing collectors, designers, developers, and corporations with the tools needed to offer innovative and creative art from around the world.
For more information on Art Angels Galleries, upcoming exhibitions, and current collections, contact Art Angels LA, 310.693.5500. 9020 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90048.
Website: www.artangels.net
Instagram: @art_angels
