Russell Young
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Works
Russell Young
Marilyn Crying (Snow White and Black) AI2021, 2021Sérigraphie diptyque sur toile de lin avec poussière de diamant / Diptych Screen Print on Linen with Diamond Dust62 x 95 in.Overview-
Ali (Lightning Pink and Black) AI2016, 2016
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Jagger (Black and White) 1-2-2008, 2008
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Marilyn Chanel (California powder blue), 2022
"My work is sort of the soundtrack to my life, loves, experiences and influences. My method of working is to search, destroy and create."
It was in the 80s that British photographer Russell Young first lent his eye to celebrity culture. The assignment was photographing George Michael for the sleeve of an album called “Faith”. That job launched a career and soon Russell was shooting musicians like Morrissey, Bjork, Springsteen, Dylan, REM, New Order, The Smiths, Diana Ross, Paul Newman and many other celebrities. The next natural step was directing music videos; Russell directed a hundred music videos during the heyday of MTV.
Ten years into his career, Russell started painting, but his work remained private. Until 2003, when Young showed his first series of paintings called Pig Portraits, this first show sold out. Young has risen to be an internationally acclaimed pop artist, creating larger than life silkscreen paintings of images from history and pop culture.
“My work is sort of the soundtrack to my life, loves, experiences and influences. My method of working is to search, destroy and create. The images of this series have been collected from newspaper cuttings, e-bay, long correspondence with police departments throughout the world or even given by celebrities themselves. The idea to create “anti-celebrity” portraits was probably a reaction to my former career. However, they turned out to be even more beautiful and iconic. There is undeniably this attitude that is very real, in your face, a beauty that is hard to ignore. These would be my heroes that are missing from Art History.”
Russell Young has become one of the most collected and sought after artists of our time. Celebrities and the most discriminating collectors like Abby Rosen, the Getty’s, Elizabeth Taylor, David Hockney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, David Bowie and President Barack Obama have added Russell’s works to their collections. His larger than life screenprint images from history and popular culture are compelling, daunting, and undeniable.
Russell lives and works in New York and California.
Biography-
Ali (Lightning Pink and Black) AI2016, 2016
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Jagger (Black and White) 1-2-2008, 2008
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Marilyn Chanel (California powder blue), 2022
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.
