On Friday, November 7th, the John Pence Gallery, located at 750 Post Street in San Francisco, near Union Square, will open an exhibition of recent oil paintings by Russell Harris. The gallery will host a reception for the artist on November 7th from 6:00 to 8:00pm. The exhibition will remain on view to the public through December 1, 2014.
Russell Harris is a mid career artist who presently hails from Chicago, Illinois, where he a very well regarded art teacher at the prestigious Latin School of Chicago. Russell was born in Baltimore and graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Prior to his graduation he studied at the Schuler School of Fine Art under Anne Schuler and gallery mainstay Will Wilson. He has been exhibiting with John Pence since 2009 and this will be his first one-man Exhibition. He has also presented his works in other galleries in Sacramento, CA., Chicago, IL., Cape Cod, Delray Beach, FL., New York, and Baltimore. Mr. Harris has received awards from the Art Renewal Center, The Artist’s Magazine, and the International Artist Magazine. Earlier this year he was chosen to show his work at the prestigious Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, OH.
Russell Harris’ recent work features a series of portrait heads and a stellar collection of still lifes. The primary work in this exhibition features his mother hard at work in her kitchen, late at night. The lighting in this painting is extremely extremely difficult and wonderfully successful. His figure sketches and finished portraits display an accomplished talent for expression and variety. His colors and compositions are bold and complex; demonstrating textural artistry at its best.