Russell Young

Russell Young was born in 1959 in Northern England and adopted at four months old. From a young age, he felt like an outsider, drawn to the warmth and promise of the American dream. Immersed in northern punk culture and soul music, he turned to photography, studying at Chester and then Exeter Art College.

After struggling to find work in London, he began assisting photographer Christos Raftopoulos, who taught him to see light and detail differently. Young soon began shooting live music shows and landed work with major magazines and record labels. In 1986, he photographed George Michael’s Faith album cover, launching a career that included portraits of Dylan, Björk, Morrissey, Diana Ross, and directing over 100 music videos during the MTV era.

In 1992, he moved to Hollywood, married actress Finola Hughes, and started painting seriously. Frustrated with photography’s limits, he traveled to Tuscany in 2000 to reflect. Back in New York, he began experimenting with what he called “Combine Paintings” and launched his Pig Portraits series—raw, powerful reinterpretations of celebrity and identity.

In 2003, he exhibited the Pig Portraits in Los Angeles and fully embraced his identity as a painter. Relocating to the California coast, he built a home studio and focused on process, discipline, and reflection. In 2007, his Fame + Shame series offered a gritty, conflicted view of American pop culture. That same year, Young began using diamond dust in his paintings, layering shimmering surfaces over portraits like Marilyn Crying and Kurt Cobain, playing with perception and celebrity iconography. In 2009, his American Envy series deepened the exploration of fame and cultural collapse, with figures like Elvis, JFK, and Charles Manson as haunting guides.

In 2010, Young nearly died from H1N1. After an eight-day coma and long recovery, he relearned how to walk, breathe, and think. This trauma triggered a dramatic shift in his work. Embracing a more primal, raw method, he produced the Helter Skelter paintings, immersing viewers in visual chaos.

With Only Anarchists Are Pretty, he challenged the viewer further—cutting and assembling dark, hypersexual imagery into densely packed compositions. The works reference both urban decay and childhood trauma, layered with allusions to Joy Division and wartime history.

Young continues to push boundaries, returning to themes of alienation, rebellion, and the outsider’s fight for light and expression. His work has been exhibited in London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Singapore, New York, Detroit, Miami, and Los Angeles. He lives and works on the California coast and in Brooklyn.