Russell West

Shropshire, UK

Russell's Craft

Russell West’s intensely coloured, dripping paint artworks draw the eye into a three-dimensional labyrinth of layers and hollows, colours and patterns. He can spend up to a year creating a work, repeatedly applying layers of paint and allowing the natural effects of gravity to partially define the work.

Many of West’s works are efforts to recreate the chaotic nature of human living conditions that he has witnessed throughout the years, from the bomb-damaged houses of his childhood, the slums of Bombay and the South American Favelas, to the Kowloon walled-city in Hong Kong.

Born and raised on Portsmouth, West practiced as a graphic artist until 1989. He then moved to South East Asia, spending many years working as an artist in Hong Kong, the Philippines and India before returning to Britain. His visceral and unique work has garnered him an international audience, and we are thrilled to have him here at the Gallery.