British artist born in 1971 in Exeter, Devon. He
graduated from Met university in 1995- completing a BA in graphic art and
design. He has spent almost 20 years crafting skills, absorbing influences of
visual culture. His current work is a clash of styles from classical to pop art
surrealism focusing on the human form. He was originally interested in working in film, and animation however, it wasn’t until more recently in his career that he realized his true potential lied in work with the computer, pencil, and paper. His work is based on urban fine art and
contemporary graphics. A collision of real digital media, illustration based on
firm drawing. He focuses mainly on the human form particularly on the face. Russ Mill’s figures are both striking, and a bit chaotic. They’re feminine, while alluding a sense of masculine power. His work is powerful, it uncovers the human emotion that lies underneath the beautiful girls faces, and allows their mind to be spoken in an unforgiving light.
The process he uses to create his work consists of many steps. Mills first collects sources he feels would be suitable to the portrait he is working on. Such as random stripes of pencil marks, textured paper, and even toned paper. He simply draws the photograph he is working from and scans that in as well. He then delves into his chaotic experimentation with coloured inks, adding or subtracting pieces as needed. His works all convey a sense of chaos, and motion. The portraits have a dark, almost eerie look to them. His figures are seemingly translucent. Their harsh outlines, and quick pulses of shading and, highlights only illuminate a hollow figure. It’s almost as though these figures are ghosts of various people.
In my opinion I like the way he uses ink a specific way to express the emotion in his work. The direction of the ink being spread across the human figures to create a sense of meaning. the limitation of colours lets the picture itself create a strong emotion. For example: This image of a girl it seems like she is trapped and wanting to escape what shows this feeling is the use of the red ink being spread across the top of her head and how the rest of her body is not visible. the emotion such as feeling lost, feeling of suffering.
Andy Warhol was born on August 6th 1928 in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was an American painter, printmaker, occasional sculptor and film maker who was famous for the visual art
movement- Pop art. His work explores the relationship between artistic expressions,
celebrity, culture/advertisement which was popular by the 1960s. As a teenager
his intentions were to study art education- to become a art teacher. However this then changed when he enrolled in the Carnegie Institute of Technology where he studied commercial art. In 1949 he moved to New York to being a career in magazine illustration. Warhol began to use mechanical techniques to mass produce his images. His interest in popular culture expanded as he began to depict celebrities/newspaper dippings into prints.
One of his famous screen printing stencils was of Marilyn Monroe the reason why he repeated the image was because she was known as an 'icon' which meant everyone knew who she was. For example Michael Jackson is still an icon because he was and still is known as the 'King of Pop' the first person who created the moon walk. The more he repeated the Marilyn Monroe image the more 'iconic' she became. Also since screen printing involves using the stencil more then once using this method helped him create his stencils easily. Warhol wasn't only known for his celebrity stencils but also painting everyday objects and creating continuous stencils with them.
In my opinion I like the way Andy Warhol uses bright colours and makes his work look cartoonic the lines and shapes he uses I guess that's what pop art is about it doesn't have to be real or make sense as long as it relates to something. The way his stencils send out the 'iconic' meaning to people.
