Statement
Alex Russell is a painter and printmaker. His practice explores the space between opposites: handmade and digital, methodical and intuitive, science and art, faith and doubt, chaos and pattern. Fascinated by the creative process, his works are maps of their own making, visual records of routes found by the art itself.
Alex's multi-layered, collage-like process of addition and subtraction develops iteratively, revealing archaeological glimpses of the early stages that are vital in the balance of the final outcome. Only a fraction of the hundreds or thousands of elements that have been used to arrive at the whole remain visible. The work celebrates the endless, joyful possibilities of colour, form and composition, rewarding repeated viewing by revealing new content and interpretations over time.
Alex spends a significant amount of time setting up systems and conditions that will allow the work to grow, often using sets of rules in the form of code or instructions that allow randomness within defined limits: a stochastic space somewhere within which will be a sweet spot. This allows for both experimentation and fine-tuning, for trying to coax something mysterious and mercurial into being. The process blends craft with instinct, drawing on Alex's tacit skills from a lifetime of making images. He looks for a tipping point where the art takes over, a state of following the imagery, of letting it tell him what to do and when it is finished.
Alex is intrigued by how traditions of composition can be expressed as a grammar and combined with the scientific concepts of complex systems and emergence. Overarching his practice is a conceptual approach to pattern, including repeat pattern (from textile design), design patterns (from software design) and pattern language (from architecture).

Bio
Alex Russell (born Dorset, UK) has shown in a wide range of venues including Lightbox New York (US), Browar B Cultural Centre/Forum Gallery (PL), BBC Salford (UK), Museum of Architecture and Design Ljubljana (RS), Waterside Sale (UK), Left Bank Leeds (UK), Storyhouse Chester (UK), Fronteer Gallery Sheffield (UK), The Bluecoat Liverpool (UK), Xuzhou Museum of Art Jiangsu Province (CH) and Kulturcenter Huset Aarhus (DK). Since becoming a full-time artist in 2022, he has participated at numerous art, print and craft fairs including the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Liverpool Art Fair and the National Festival of Making.
Prior to this, Alex was a printed textiles/surface pattern designer and lecturer. He sold to an international client list and his work features widely in books about printed textiles. As a lecturer, Alex taught under/postgraduates for nearly 20 years. His book "The Fundamentals Of Printed Textiles Design" is in its 2nd edition and has been translated into French and Spanish.
Alex lives and works in Manchester (UK).

Qualifications
MA Textiles, Manchester Metroplitan University (1992).
BA (Hons) Fashion and Textiles, Manchester Polytechnic (1991).

Contact
alex[at]alexrussell[dot]com

A new online gallery will open here in Spring 2025.
A selection of paintings are available at Saatchi Art and of prints at Dot Art.
For updates, see Alex's Instagram.

Image: "A Scheme Not Of This World 240618" (2024) One-off giclée print mounted on panel, 39.5 cm x 24.6 cm

© Alex Russell 2025. All rights reserved.