Russ Warren

Russ Warren was born in Washington, DC in 1951, grew up in Houston, Texas and began his training as an artist at the University of St. Thomas, Houston in 1969. He received his BFA in 1973 from the University of New Mexico and received his MFA in 1977 from the University of Texas in San Antonio. Warren taught painting and printmaking at Davidson College from 1978 – 2008 and exhibited widely throughout the state of North Carolina in these years while also showing throughout the US and abroad in such prestigious exhibitions as the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Biennial. Hodges Taylor Gallery represented him in Charlotte and Phyllis Kind Gallery represented him in New York and Chicago. He showed at the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Mint Museum, SECCA, the Hickory Museum of Art, the Knight Gallery and many more North Carolina venues.

Warren’s work is included in numerous museums and corporate collections such as the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Mint Museum, the Gibbes in Charleston, the Virginia Museum of Art and the North Carolina Museum of Art. His work in included in numerous exhibition catalogues and has been reviewed in The New York Times, Arts Magazine, Art in America and many others. His artistic inspirations include Spanish masters such as Velázquez, Goya and Picasso, as well as Mexican folk art and contemporary artists such as Roy de Forest and Jim Nutt. He melds these inspirations into his own unique synthesis of symbols and imagery, employing line and color as well as wild variations in scale and shadow to heighten the expression, and often the humor.

Teaching
1978–2008		Professor of Art, Davidson College, Davidson, NC
2009–Present		Russ Warren Studio School and Critique Class, Charlottesville, VA
		Education
1977		M.F.A. University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
1973		B.F.A. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico


		Selected Solo Exhibitions
2019 2017 2017		Surrealities, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville Russ Warren: New Paintings and Sculpture, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville Russ Warren: Bull! Vol. II, New Livestock Marker Paintings, Woodberry Forest, VA
2016		Russ Warren: WORKS, 1971 – 2015, The Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, Davidson, NC
2015		Russ Warren: Zaragoza, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2015		Russ Warren: WORKS, 1971 – 2015, Baker Gallery, Woodberry Forest, VA; Sarah Moody Gallery, University of Alabaman, Tucaloosa, AL
2015		Russ Warren: Medium as Metaphor, Explorations with Livestock MarkersMcintire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, Charlottesville,
2014		Russ Warren: La Infanta, Darden Business School, Charlottesville, VA
2013		Russ Warren: Galilee, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2013		Russ Warren: A Little Night Music, Beverley Street Studio School, Staunton, VA
2011		Russ Warren: While We Sleep, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2011		This I Saw: 100 Tunes of Humor, Death and Lies, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2010		Russ Warren, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
2009		From Magic Mountain, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2007		Portraits, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2005		Forgive Us Not, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2004		Of Deaths and Legends, 2000 – 2002, Van Every Gallery, Davidson College
2003		From the Sketchbooks, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2001		Elvis Ain’t No Cubist, Van Every Gallery, Davidson College
1999		Mare: A Work in Progress, Les Yeux du Monde at Starr Hill
1999		Mare: A Work in Progress, Van Every Gallery, Davidson College
1999		New Paintings, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
1992		Caballos de Locura, Christa Faut Gallery, Davidson, NC
1991		Classic Fino, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
1989		Bull!, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
1988		Recent Prints and Drawings, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
1988		Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
1987		Recent Works, Jailhouse Gallery, Morganton Arts Council, Morganton, NC
1986		Recent Paintings, Davidson College Art Gallery, Davidson, NC
1986		Russ Warren: Sculpture, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
1985		North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
1985		Drew University Art Gallery, Madison, NJ
1984		Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC
1984		Emblems of the Unseeable, Knight Gallery, Charlotte, NC (catalogue)
1984		Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
1984		Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
1982		Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
1982		Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
1981		Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
1981		High Point Arts Council, High Point, NC
1980		University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
1979		Recent Paintings, Davidson College Art Gallery, Davidson, NC
1979		Spirit Square Art Gallery, Charlotte, NC
1978		Store Front Gallery, Tampa Bay Arts Council, Tampa, FL
1977		San Antonio Museum of Modern Art and University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
1975		University of St. Thomas Art Gallery, Houston, TX
1972		First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, Albuquerque, NM
1972		First National Bank Gallery of Art, Albuquerque, NM
1972		Old Town Studio, Albuquerque, NM

		Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 2018 2017 2017		Inside the Artist’s Studio, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA Surrealiites: The Art of Ed Haddaway and Russ Warren, Charlottesville, VA The Livestock Marker Show: Gwyn Kohr, Kathy Kuhlmann, Russ Warren, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA Animal Instinct, Jepson Center, Telfair Museum, Savannah, GA Southern Hospitality: The Collaborative Work of Wayne Kline and the Rolling Stone Press, Brenau University, Gainesville, GA
2016		Manger Scene: Paintings and Installations by Pam Black, Virginia Van Horn, Lester Van Winkle, Russ Warren and Aggie Zed, Chroma Projects, Charlottesville, VA
2016		Picasso, Lydia and Friends II: William Bennett, Dean Dass, Sanda Iliescu, David Summers, Russ Warren, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2014		Picasso, Lydia and Friends II: William Bennett, Dean Dass, Sanda Iliescu, David Summers, Russ Warren, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2013		Bombay Artisan Series Regional Finalist Exhibition, International Visions Gallery, Washington, DC
2012		Collage: Earl Staley and Russ Warren, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2012		Picasso, Lydia and Friends: William Bennett, Dean Dass, Sanda Iliescu, David Summers, Russ Warren, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2012		Commentary: Exhibition of Southeastern Artists, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
2011		Picasso: Prints from the Mediterranean; Warren: Prints of the Bull, Les Yeux du Monde
2009		The Bridge, Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative
2007		A Decade of Collecting, University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA
2005		Equus II, curated by Sarah Sargent, The Arts Center in Orange
2004		Gallery Artists, Les Yeux du Monde
2004		The Figure, Inside and Out, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
2001		Reconstructing Eden: Contemporary American Landscape Painting, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
2000		Painting in the Year 2000, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2000		North Carolina 20^th-Century Masters, Lee Hansley Gallery, Raleigh, NC
1998		Moving into the Millennium: Light, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
1999		Moving into the Millennium: Darkness, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville,VA
1996		Summer Solstice Show, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
1992		Somar Invitational Exhibition, Waterworks Visual Art Center, Salisbury, NC
1992		Lithography: True Fine Art of Printing, Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC
1991		Graphic Figures – Figurative Graphics, 7 American Artists in Cologne, Germany
1991		Art and Social Vision, Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, Greensboro, NC
1990		Images of Faith, Kentucky Museum, Northport, AL
1989		Looking South: A Different Dixie, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
1989		Made in America, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, Virginia Beach, VA
1989		North Carolina Artists Invitational, Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC
1988		Vitreographoen, Kunstsammlurger der Veste, Coburg, West Germany
1988–1990		41st Corcoran Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
1987		Fact/Fiction/Fantasy: Recent Narrative Art in the Southeast, Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
1987		Warmer Climate – Cool at Night, Spirit Square Arts Center, Charlotte, NC
1987		Drawing Redefined, Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, Greensboro, NC
1987		North Carolina Artists Exhibition, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
1987		The Crayon Show, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC
1987		Luminous Impressions: Prints from Glass Plates, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
1986		North Carolina Artists Invitational, Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC
1986		Bon a Tirer, Winstone Press and the RJR Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC
1986		Dream Faces, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, NY
1986		5th Annual North Carolina Sculpture Invitational, Northern Telecom, Durham, NC and Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC
1986		Southern Contemporary Artists Invitational, Jacksonville State University and Anniston Museum of Natural History, Anniston, AL
1986		Black and White: A Drawing Exhibition, Gallery 29I, lanta, GA; the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA; and Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
1986		The Printed Image: More Than Meets the Eye, Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, Greensboro, NC, January 1986Artists Outside Chicago, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, IL
1986		Kind at Koplin, Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1986		Art in Public Places, Wilmington, NC
1986		Four North Carolina Artists, Comma Gallery, Morganton Arts Council, Morganton, NC
1986		Prints From Glass, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC
1986		Drawings, Knight Gallery, Spirit Square Arts Center, Charlotte, NC
1985		New Figurative Painting, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC
1985		Artists Fellowship Exhibition, North Carolina Arts Council, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC
1985		The Figure: Form and Expression, Waterworks Gallery, Salisbury, NC
1984		USA: Portrait of the South, Palazzo Venezia, Rome, Italy
1984		Here and Now, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
1984		Venice Biennale, US Information Agency and New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Venice, Italy
1984		SECCA VII, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC
1983		Southern Fictions, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
1983		Southern Fervor: Religious Iconography in Contemporary Southern Painting, Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
1983		On the Leading Edge, General Electric Company, Fairfield, CT
1983		Painting in the South 1564 – 1980, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; National Academy of Design, New York, NY (catalogue with essays by Donald Kuspit and others)
1983		Group Show, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, NY
1983		Intoxication, Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York, NY
1982		New Painting I: American, Middendorf-Lane Gallery, Washington, DC
1982		Beast, P.S. 1, New York, NY
1982		Painting and Sculpture Today, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
1982		Magic in Art, Spirit Square, Charlotte, NC
		Agitated Figures: The New Emotionalism, Albright-Knox Gallery of Art; Hallways Gallery; and Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY and Buffalo,NY
1982		Figurative Images, Georgia State University Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA
1982		The Human Figure in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
1981		Currents: A New Mannerism, Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, FL
1981		Changing Visions, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1981		Printmaking Group Show, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC
1981		Figures: Forms and Expressions, Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1981		Contemporary Drawings, University of California at Santa Barbara
1981		Whitney Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY
1980		New Orleans Triennial, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
1980		Tragicomedy, Mystery, and Humor, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
1980		Dog Show, Raleigh Museum of Art, Collectors Gallery, Raleigh, NC
1980		48th Southeastern Competition, SECCA, Winston-Salem, NC
1979		Rutgers Drawing ‘79, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ
1979		Regional Exhibition, Arts Festival of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
1979		Appalachian National Drawing Competition, Farthing Art Gallery, Boone, NC
1979		Boston Printmakers 31st Annual, Boston, MA
1979		Biennial Exhibition, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
1979		Recent Prints, Winthrop College, Rock Hill, SC
1979		Chiaha Regional Exhibition, First National Bank, Rome, GA
1979		Charlotte Printmakers Exhibition, Charlotte Observer Building, Charlotte, NC
1979		Houston Area Exhibition, Sarah Cambell Blaffer Gallery Annex, Houston, TX
1979		Art of the Carolinas traveling exhibition, Spring Mills, Fort Mill, SC
1978		Shelby Annual Juried Exhibition, Shelby, NC
1977		Houston Area Exhibition, Sarah Cambell Blaffer Gallery Annex, Houston, TX
1977		Amarillo Art Competition, Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, TX
1977		Shelby Annual Juried Exhibition, Shelby, NC
1977		Bosch Bash, University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX
1976		Artists Invitational, Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, TX
1976		Houston Area Exhibition, Sarah Cambell Blaffer Gallery Annex, Houston, TX
1976		Christmas Print and Drawing Exhibition, San Antonio Museum of Modern Art, San Antonio, TX
1975-1976		Winners Exhibition and Artists Biennial, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
1975		Southeast Texas Collective, Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, TX

Selected Publications and Reviews

Jane Sathe, “Photographers document Painters’ Progress, Process for Second Street Gallery Exhibition”, Daily Progress, 2/1/19

Mary Shea Watson,“Les Yeux du Monde Steers Away from Traditional Media”, C-ville Weekly, 7-3-2018.

“Animal Instinct Jepson Center Opens New Exhibit”, Do Savannah, 7/13/17.

Raenna Lorne, “Artists Gather their Animals for Chroma Exhibition”, C-ville Weekly, 12/7/16

Mark Leach, “Watch a painter mature in this Davidson exhibition,” Charlotte Observer, Jan. 21, 2016. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article55881275.html

Russ Warren: WORKS, 1971 – 2015, The Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, January, 2016. http://www.davidsoncollegeartgalleries.org/russ-warren-works-1971-2015/#

Sarah Lawson, “Velazquez to Picasso: Russ Warren Channels Spain in the Blue Ridge,” C-ville Weekly, May 20 – 26, 2015, 31. http://www.c-ville.com/velazquez-picasso-russ-warren-channels-spain-blue-ridge/.

Josh McCullar, “Russ Warren’s Music and Magic,” VaMODERN, Feb.18, 2013.

https://virginiamodern.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/russ-warrens-music-and-magic/

Cindy Marks, “Artist Profile: Russ Warren,” The Artizen Traveler, Fall 2012, 11 – 19.

http://publications.catstonepress.com/i/97088.

Brendan Fitzgerald, “Magic Touch, Inside the funny scary world of Russ Warren,” cover story,

C-ville Weekly, August 9 – 15, 2011. http://www.c-ville.com/Magic_touch/

“Checking in with Russ Warren,” C-ville Weekly, June 29, 2010, http://www.c-ville.com/Checking_in_with_Russ_Warren/#.VFZ8NN51M5R

Catherine Malone, “He’s a Magic Man,” C-ville Weekly, 2009. http://www.c-ville.com/From_Magic_Mountain_Russ_Warren_Les_Yeux_du_Monde/#.VFZF_d51M5Q

Wendy Edwards, “Adding Myth and Magic to Art,” Homestyle, July 2010, 10-11.

Ruth Latter, “Inspired by Picasso’s Captivating Ugliness”, The Daily Progress, October 2005

Sarah Sargent, Equus II, The Arts Center in Orange, 2005.

M.M., “Mare in the mirror,” C-ville Weekly, November 9 – 15, 1999

Scott Lucas, “Night Mares,” Creative Loafing, June 26, 1999.

Richard Schiff, “Russ Warren,” Crafting Concentration: Three Artists at Davidson, 1993, 14 – 17.

“The 41^st Biennial,” The Washington Post, April 5, 1989.

Mark Kingsley, “Corcoran Biennial Celebrates the Decentralized South” The Arts Journal, June

1989.

Robert Godfrey, “Drawing Redefined,” The Arts Journal, November 1987.

Steven Litt, “New Look Showcases N.C. Art”, July 1987.

Vivien Raynor, “Russ Warren,” New York Times, December 28, 1985.

Barry Schwabsky, “Russ Warren’s Magic Theatre,” Arts Magazine, April 1985.

Jane Kessler, “Russ Warren,” Atlanta Art Papers, November/December 1984.

Jane Grau, “Russ Warren’s Emblems of the Unseeable,” Arts Journal, November 1984.

Robert Storr, “Southeast Seven”, The Arts Journal, May 1984, 74.

Nicolas A. Moufarrege, “Intoxication,” Arts Magazine, April 1983.

Ronny Cohen, “Russ Warren,” ARTnews, February 1983.

Susan A. Harris, “Russ Warren,” Arts Magazine, January 1983.

Marcia Tucker, “An Iconography of Recent Figurative Painting,” Artforum, Summer, 1982, 70-75.

Roberta Smith, “Agitated Figures, The New Emotionalism,” The Village Voice, June 22. 1982

Merle Schipper, “Changing Visions,” Images & Issues, Summer 1982.

Richard Flood, “Russ Warren,” Artforum, September 1981, 79-80

Ellen Schwartz, “The Whitney and Guggenheim,” ARTnews, April 1981.

Roberta Smith, “Biennial Blues,” Art in America, April 1981.

Grace Glueck, “How Emerging Artists Emerge,” ARTnews, May 1981.

Carrie Ricky, “Curatorial Conceptions, Artforum, April 1981.

Jesse Murray, “Russ Warren,” Arts Magazine, May 1981.

Elizabeth Hess, “Russ Warren, Xray Visions,” Village Voice, June 3–9, 1981.

Selected Collections

Cary Brown and Steve Epstein, Charlottesville, VA

Amos Cahan, New York, NY

Brian St. John Fox, Charlottesville, VA

Barbara Gladstone, New York, NY

Capital One, Richmond, VA

Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY

Chemical Bank, New York, NY

The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

General Electric Company, Fairfield, CT

Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC

Dorothy Hodges, Charlotte, NC

Mr. and Mrs. Morton Hornick

Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN

Nanette Laitman, New York, NY

Sydney and Francis Lewis Foundation, Richmond, VA

Sherry and Alan Koppel, Chicago, IL

Martha Jefferson Hospital, Charlottesville, VA

Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC

Leroi Moore Collection, Charlottesville, VA

New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans LA

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC

Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State, University Park, PA

Victoria and James Newman, Buffalo, NY

Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ

A. G. Rosen, New Jersey

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Shein, Philadelphia, PA

Martha Jefferson Hospital, Charlottesville, VA

Martin Sklar, New York, NY

Holly Solomon, New York, NY

Christie Taylor, Snow Hill, MD

Artist’s statement here. Cut and paste in Visual tab.

Selected Catalogues
2019 2018 2015		Jane Sathe, “Photographers Document Painters’ Progress, Process in Second Street Gallery Exhibition”, Daily Progress, 2/2/19 Mary Shea Watson,“Les Yeux du Monde Steers Away from Traditional Media”, C-ville Weekly, 7-3-2018. Russ Warren WORKS, 1971 – 2015, Introduction by Shaw Smith, Essay by Carter Ratcliff, Interview with William Dooley,
2005		Equus II, curated by Sarah Sargent for the Arts Center in Orange
1987		North Carolina Artists Exhibition 1987, with a conversation with Roberta Smith, Guest Curator, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
1987		Luminous Impressions: Prints From Glass Plates, essay by Jane Kessler, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
1986		Prints From Glass, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC
1986		5th Annual Exhibition of North Carolina Sculpture, Research Triangle Park, NC
1984		Emblems of the Unseeable, by Carter Ratcliff, Knight Gallery, Charlotte, NC
1983		Beast, P.S.I., New York, NY
1983		Painting in the South, 1540-1980, by Donald Kuspit, Virginia Museum, Richmond, VA
1983		Southern Fictions, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
1982		Painting and Sculpture Today: 1982, Indianapolis Museum of Art
1982		Agitated Figures, New Emotionalism, Hallways Gallery, New York, NY
1982		Figures, Forms, and Expressions, Albright-Knox Gallery, New York, NY
1981		Contemporary Drawing, University of California at Santa Barbara
1981		1981 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1980		1980 New Orleans Triennial, by Marcia Tucker and the NOMA
1980		Rutgers National Drawing ‘79, by Virginia Stell and Rutgers University
1976		1975 Artists Biennial Winners Exhibition, New Orleans Museum of Art
1975		1975 Artists Biennial, by NOMA and Jane Livingston
1975		Southeast Texas Collective, Beaumont Museum of Art, Beaumont, TX

Selected Publications and Reviews

Sarah Sargent, “Inner Realities: LYDM reconnects the imaginary worlds of Ed Haddaway and Russ Warren,” C-ville Weekly, 2/13/19.