Russell Stephenson at JR Mooney Galleries

Texas Panoramic Series “Bridging the Abstract” Vol. 1 Artwork by Russell Stephenson Edited by Gabriel Diego Delgado

All text by Gabriel Diego Delgado, unless otherwise noted.

All photography courtesy of the art, Russell Stephenson and J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art Š 2014 JR Mooney Galleries

Images: Salt II, Oil on Panel, 24” x 60” , $3,000.00

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“I came to understand that the Texas Hill Country has a client base that needs a higher level of understanding contemporary art. I knew that collectors in this location would not be on the cutting edge of contemporary art, but more in tune with the South Texas art scene. As a result, I began introducing the work of contemporary artists into the Boerne location of J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art. Among them is Russell Stephenson, a San Antonio artist who does abstracted landscapes of Texas in a style that is beyond impressionism and more about swatches of color and movement. In fact, his work has characteristics of abstract expressionism.

So here we have a ‘bridging’ artist going from Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism— but, mingling in the traditional sense of landscape painting, contextually it is not a huge leap for those interested in expanding their existing art collections.”

-Gabriel Diego Delgado Gallery Director, Boerne *excerpts taken from Aug. 2014 Art World News Magazine,

RUSSELL STEPHENSON

GROUP EXHIBITIONS _________________________________________________________________ 2014

RED FALL, JR Mooney Galleries, Beorne, TX

2013

MEDITATIONS ON PAPER, Anarte Gallery, San Antonio, TX

BIOGRAPHIC PROFILE________________________________________________________

CAM: SPRING EXHIBITION, Long Hall Gallery, San Antonio, TX

Born: October 16, 1973, Abilene, TX Married: June 26, 1999 to Sephra L. Stephenson; 1 child

On and Off Fred: Open Studio Tour, Long Hall Gallery, San Antonio, TX 2012

THE RED DOT SHOW, Bluestar Arts, San Antonio, TX

EDUCATION________________________________________________________________ 2006 2001

Master of Fine Arts, The University of Texas at San Antonio Emphasis: Printmaking; Thesis: Intuitionism Bachelor of Fine Arts, Pacific NW College of Art, Portland Oregon Emphasis: Sculpture; Thesis: Revisiting the Spirit

1992-1993

GLOW: The Nuclear Show, Bihl Haus Arts, San Antonio, TX

2010

The Third Annual Group Show, The University of Texas Health and Science Center; Psychiatric Department, San Antonio, TX On and Off Fred; Open Studio Tour, Solasylum Gallery, San Antonio, TX

2009

Art Institute of Seattle, Seattle WA

The Texas Cannons of Proportion: Objective Space, Bihl Haus Arts, San Antonio, TX The Texas Cannons of Proportion: Paper Trail, Lonestar Studios, San Antonio, TX

Emphasis: Visual Communications

Annual Faculty Exhibition, The International Academy of Design and Technology, San Antonio, TX Revisitation, The Bluestar Arts Complex, San Antonio, TX On and Off Fred Studio Tour 2, Sponsored by Bihl Haus Arts, San Antonio, TX

GALLERY REPRESENTATION______________________________________________

2008

Foundations and Alter-ations, RexContemporary, Beorne, TX

Anarte Gallery, San Antonio, TX

The Mind of Time, The University of Texas Health and Science Center: Psychiatric Department, San Antonio, TX

Laura Rathe Fine Art, Houston, TX

Curator: Dr. Lawrence S. Schoenfeld Ph.D., ABPP

Laura Rathe Fine Art, Dallas, TX

The Texas Cannons of Proportion: The Middle of Somewhere, The Old Mason Warehouse, Mason, TX

Process Art House, Amarillo, TX J R Mooney Gallery, Boerne, TX

Faculty Exhibition, The International Academy of Design and Technology, San Antonio, TX 2007

UTSA Biennial Faculty Exhibition, The University of Texas at San Antonio Art Gallery Bihl Haus Arts 3rd Anniversary Group Exhibition, Bihl Haus Arts, San Antonio, TX

SOLO EXHIBITIONS___________________________________________________________

2006

Gradiant, Radius Project Space, San Antonio, TX

New Work, JR Mooney Galleries, Boerne, TX

Curator: Arturo Almeida, Joan Grona, Joan Grona Gallery, San Antonio, TX

Unveiling Texas, JR Mooney Galleries, Boerne, TX

Unlocked: UTSA Satellite Space, San Antonio, TX

FROM ALPHA TO GAMMA, Anarte Gallery, San Antonio, TX

Fire in the Belly: Bluestar Arts Complex, San Antonio, TX

MEDITATIONS ON PAPER, Anarte Gallery, San Antonio, TX

Radius: Radius Art Space, San Antonio, TX

2011

APPROACHING INFINITY, Anarte Gallery, San Antonio, TX

Arthouse 5X7 Show, Dunn and Brown Contemporary, Dallas, TX

2010

TRI SYNTHESIS, Galleria Ortiz, San Antonio, TX

2014

2013

On and Off Fred; Open Studio Tour, Solasylum Gallery, San Antonio, TX 2009

COSM, C-Art Gallery, San Antonio, TX

2008

On and Off Fred; Open Studio Tour, BAYA Studios, San Antonio, TX

2007

A Return Home; New Work, Flame-One Gallery, Amarillo, TX

San Antonio Arts and Eats, Tobin Estate, San Antonio, TX 2005

Curator: Marilyn Cushner, Curator of Prints and Drawings for The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn NY UTSA Student Art Show: UTSA Satellite Space, Blue Star Arts Complex, San Antonio, TX Curator: Kathryn Kanjo, Executive Director, ArtPace, San Antonio, TX

New Work: Digital Media, From Farm to Table, San Antonio, TX 2006

Face First, UTSA Satellite Space, Blue Star Arts Complex, San Antonio, TX

Intuitionism: A Critical Reflection on the Creation Process, MFA Solo Exhibition, The UTSA Satellite Space, Blue Star Arts Complex, San Antonio, TX, Forthcoming, May 2006

Resolutions: The 21st Annual Student Exhibition, The University of Texas at San Antonio Art Gallery, San Antonio, TX Curator: Riley Robinson, Program Director at ArtPace, San Antonio, TX

Something Old, Something New: Solo Exhibition, Bihl Haus Arts, San Antonio, TX Curator: Dr. Kellen McIntyre, Professor of Art History, The University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX The Little Things, Solo Exhibition, C-Art, San Antonio, TX, Forthcoming April 2006 The Art of Beauty, Texas Farm to Table, San Antonio, TX 2004

Simulations: Gallery E, The University of Texas at San Antonio

2001

Thesis Exhibition, Steven’s Studio and Gallery, Portland, OR

A Southern Perspective on Prints: The 2005 New Orleans Triennial, The New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA

Hand Pulled Prints, Joan Grona Gallery, San Antonio, TX 2004

Curator: Francis Colpitt, Department Chair of The University Of Texas at San Antonio Print, Santa Raparata School of Art, Florence, Italy Fire in the Belly, Blue Star Gallery, Blue Star Arts Complex, San Antonio, TX Think Ink, Southwest School of Arts and Crafts, San Antonio, TX Opus, UTSA Satellite Space, Blue Star Arts Complex, San Antonio, TX

2000

Drawings and Photos, Ron’s 23rd Studio and Gallery, Portland, OR 13: A Sculpture Exhibition, Steven’s Studio and Gallery, Portland, OR Sculpture, Manuel Izquierdo Sculpture Gallery, Portland, OR

1999

Paintings and Drawings, Phillip Feldman Gallery, Portland OR Group Painting Exhibition, Phillip Feldman Gallery, Portland OR Group Sculpture Exhibition, Phillip Feldman Gallery, Portland OR

BIBLIOGRAPHY_______________________________________________________________________ 2014

“When to Bring in New Art and What to Choose”, Art World News, August 2014 “Unveiling Texas”, Gabriel Diego Delgado, NHome Texas, May/June 2014 “Artist – Noun Creative Entrepreneur: A Tale of Two Artists’ Driven Passions for Business Success”, Gabriel Diego Delgado, Company, Volume 2, issue 1, Feb/Mar 2014

2011

“Physical Style Creates Illusive Landscapes”, Elda Sylva, San Antonio, Express News 2011.

2009

“Revisitation: Messy, Yet Fascinating”, Steve Bennett, San Antonio Express News 2009.

“Fire in the Hole: How to Deal with the Past”, Elaine Wolff, San Antonio Current, 2009

2008

“Texas Cannons of Proportion; Collected Works”, Forward by Samuel Kho, Publication, 2008.

“Texas Cannons of Proportion; Exhibition Catalogue”, 2008.

Lee Ann Peavy, “The Middle of Somewhere”, Mason County News, Mason, TX, Oct 12, 2008, cover.

2006

Catherine Walworth, “ART CAPADES”, San Antonio Current, San Antonio, TX, May 18, 2006, pg 21.

Dan Goddard, “Gradient”, San Antonio Express News, San Antonio, TX, Feb 9, 2006 Tim Brownlee, “Unlocked”, UTSA Today, San Antonio, TX, April 11, 2006.

2005

George Roland, “A Southern Perspective on Prints: The 2005 New Orleans Triennial”, Catalogue, The New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, August 6, 2005, 15-16, 90-91.

“Face First”, Catalogue, The University of Texas at San Antonio, April 26, 2005, 5.

“2005 Hand Pulled Prints XII”, Catalogue, StoneMetal Press, March 31, 2005.

2004

“The Rio Review”, The Student Literary and Arts Journal of Austin Community College, Fall 2004, 11.

“Opus”, Catalogue, The University of Texas at San Antonio, April 24, 2004, 9.

SELLECTED COLLECTIONS____________________________________________________________ Amarillo National Bank, Amarillo, TX Shepherd Kaplan LLC, San Antonio, TX The Broadway High Rise Luxury Condominiums, San Antonio, TX Penny Lane Boutique, San Antonio, TX Alice Duran @ Greenstar Energy, San Antonio, TX Jonothan Card @ Urbanist Design Architecture, San Antonio, TX Timothy Blonkvist @ Overland Architects, San Antonio, TX Austin Community College, Austin, TX Dr. James Lehmann, San Anto

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Artist Statement

“My work is created with loosely rendered and intuitively controlled marks, which simulate infinite illusionary environments. These environments are based on personal experiences, internal places, and translating sound into visual occurrences. I consider these works to be imaginary landscapes, occurrences, and atmospheres and objects that are both created out of expressionism, while conversely leaning more towards systematic formulation. My work is concerned with texture and perception as well as surface and color. Overriding themes in my work involve a flawed or fallen nature, over saturation, urban decay, and meditations on transcendence.

As a record of collective experiences, the marks and movements are at once fueled by automatism, and intuitionism. My works serve as a living journal, and transcendental artifacts. My range of materials grows with necessity, and accessibility.�

-R.S. 2014

Panor Tex Ser

Bastrop fires, unrelenting skylines, sublime mentalities, conceptual collectiveness, universal experiences, and intuitive automatism all play a role in Russell Stephenson’s new paintings titled, “Panoramic Texas Series”. A tribute to the Texas sky, the flat plains of Midland/Odessa, the rolling Hill Country, and the wide open plains to Pan-handle typography, Stephenson depicts all that is our great state of Texas in minimally rendered but systematically charged abstracted landscapes.

-Gabriel Diego Delgado

ramic xas ries

Russell Stephenson is one of the first Contemporary Texas Painters to be accessioned onto the J.R Mooney roster of artists in the J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art Boerne. -Stephenson brings a youthful energy, a polished contemporary aesthetic while maintaining roots in traditional approach. His art captures a sense of divine intervention, one that shapes the world around us; the gold accents, the earthy tones, and heavens and the horizons- each combining to conjure up a transcendent typography that radiates perfection.

We are ultimately engulfed by the subtleness that engulfs the gestalt of the work and reflects the tranquility of the world around us.

-G.D.

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“In his Panoramic Texas Series w cosmic altruisms, rich with beau

we can meditate on the horizontal fixations that represent such uty but toned with hues variegated into a hazy manifestation.�

-G.D.

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Russell Stephenson’s small scale abstract landscape paintings capture the pure essence of his signature aesthetic. Gold, earth tones, and deliberate mark-making mix with minimal compositions that are tied to notions of the sublime.

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“The majestic skylines of Texas radiate an unexplainable beauty – the kind that harkens to the tributary songs of stars at night and the like in all its nostalgic inspirations.”

Whether you’re experiencing the charming and subtle horizons of Corpus Christi, the flat plains of Lubbock and Plainview or the rugged mountains of Big Bend to the rolling Hill Country there is something unmistakable in its atmospheric awesomeness; with its sunrises and sunsets, its vast openness, or its terrifying and turbulent storms.

Radiant browns and various tones of burnt sienna seem to meddle perfectly with contrasting cool slate grays, snowy silvers and wispy whites. Atmospheric amalgamations of colors are ever approachable, digestible and delicate in their ephemeral and abstracted beauty.

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“Kingdom Come”, 36” x 84” oil on wood panel painting is an impactful tribute to personal trying times. One of only a few this size, “Kingdom Come” engulfs the viewer in a metaphoric wave of quasi- religious adumbrate.

Part landscape, part Lascaux cave painting, part universal truth, “Kingdom Come” radiates an energy similar to an unexplored nebula, a faraway galaxy, or an exploding star; while visually grounding the audiences’ experience in earth tones- bring the evolving mystery closer to earth.

Ignoring the separation of the heavens from the earth, light and dark, movement and stagnation, scars and healings all move, work and play within the pictorial field; giving rise to a language that all can understand. Conceived out of suffering; born out of pain, and thrived out of love. © Gabriel Diego Delgado JR Mooney Galleries

In “Mesa”, Stephenson delivers a medium size rectangle painting, one that is anchored by a distinguishable plateau that is concisely centered, mingled and engulfed by feathered heavens that glow with an inner radiance; something that can only achieved by some cosmic enlightenment.

The top half of the painting is accented with marks or controlled chaos of the artist’s hand as he touches the panel in a series of deliberate gestures through pressure, contemplation and automatic subconscious responses. © Gabriel Diego Delgado

I “Salt was developed after looking through photographs of the Dead Sea. The color palette was again drawn directly from the region and is inspired by the vast resource of salt in the sea. Symbolically, Salt represents the Dead Sea, but also metaphorically Christ said that we, believers, are “the salt of the earth”, and are meant to preserve the faith.”

- Russell Stephenson

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..It is in reference to ‘this’ teaching in abstract symbolism as the living word of Christ, and to refer to the beauty of the region of the salt waters of the Dead Sea.” -R.S.

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Mesa, Caprock, Llano Estacado, Bastrop, Lubbock, Rockport and other locations with distinctive horizon lines, giving us familiar elements to enter the composition; familiarize ourselves with the terrain and ingest the beautiful quality of that specific topographical location – mountains, coast, plains, etc.

With glazes, textures, and a mastered control of pressure, Stephenson lays forth bountiful clouds and atmospheres that dance across the Texas skies ~ a pictorial grandeur to the majestic skyline; visually reinforcing the “big and bright� of the revered Texas tune. We begin to see the role the firmament plays in relation to the lands below; a relationship broken down into minimal strata.

-Gabriel Diego Delgado

“Stephenson grounds us with bold, linear horizontal lines while breaking up the abstractions with surprising wicks, flicks, and wisps that create active energies with a literal all over composition; giving respect to the Abstract Expressionist call.� -G.D.