About Russell C Smith

Russell C. Smith / Collage and Mixed Media Artist / Artist Statement Combining humor with the human motivations that live within us all, my collage and mixed media art is made to linger in the viewer’s mind. Using the medium of pasted paper and mixed media, I am interested in touching on the underlying feelings and findings we carry inside us. Collage is about the constantly transforming world we find ourselves in, the times we live in, and the new century we find ourselves in. Looking through multiple lenses, collage references the past and pulls back a curtain on the present in a way that pauses our digital modern lives. For a time, we can step into an alternate version of the world and find our place inside it. In a series of quick jump cuts and intuitively connected images, collage is how the modern world sees itself. My collage and mixed media pieces are informed by years of life drawing, connecting to art, books, and movies at a young age, years of viewing every type of visual art, writing, reading, and engaging in the cultural now. I studied life drawing at the Art Students League of New York from 1978-1980, and took classes in Chinese brush painting in New York City.