A painter who explores nationalist symbols

Sam Morris

Artist Sean Russell starts working in his studio at about 4 or 5 a.m. and paints while listening to a radio show about UFOs, paranormal phenomena and other things unexplained.

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Name: Sean Russell, visual artist

Age: 30

Education: Bachelor of fine arts with an emphasis on sculpture, University of Wisconsin, Stout; master of fine arts with an emphasis on painting, UNLV

Day job: Instructor at College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College. He teaches art history, studio art classes and introduction to contemporary art.

Work: Russell is known mostly for his large-scale paintings and public art projects. His art varies depending on each project and exhibit. He’s mostly a painter who explores nationalist symbols (ambiguous or not) and iconography appearing in beer advertisements, a merging of patriotism and drinking that he experienced while working at a VFW as an undergrad during 9/11.

His studio work is raw, aggressive and masculine, resulting in an urban look that evokes American beer ads and German Expressionism.

Public art: Public art projects include “The Big V,” a vibrant and illuminated centennial mural at UNLV that was a group project, and an ode to 5th Street Liquor at a transit stop for the Regional Transportation Commission’s ACE line Stop and Glow project. For that project, Russell digitally manipulated photographs of the old 5th Street Liquor store to make them look like images from surveillance video to create the sense of a voyeur looking into the past in a city known for surveillance, playing off the idea that bus riders are ultimate voyeurs looking out into the world.

The process: At about 4 or 5 a.m. Russell goes to his garage studio, opens its door to the neighborhood and paints while listening to the syndicated radio show “Coast to Coast AM.”

Why art? “I like creating an argument, something I can have a positive or negative response to later. My life is so ordered that it’s nice to have something surprising, something different. It’s like when it rains here.”

Getting to Las Vegas: Originally from Wausau, Wis., he drove to Las Vegas every year with friends as an undergrad student. They’d rent out a suite on top of the Gold Spike, move the furniture onto the patio and sit out there looking down on old Las Vegas. When applying for graduate school, he thought, “Why not Las Vegas?” He came here to look at the school, met professor Jim Pink and moved here in 2002.

Living in Las Vegas: “Las Vegas is full of cool little spaces, like this place (The Dispensary). They’re in front of a Food For Less, a Petsmart or an island in a parking lot ... I was in Los Angeles recently. We were looking for a place to get a burger and a beer. We couldn’t find one. I can go out at 3 a.m. in Las Vegas and go in any direction and find a place.”

Upcoming shows: Has an exhibit next month at the Fallout Gallery with artist Jay Bailey and is curating “Doberman,” a show in January at the College of Southern Nevada that is based on artists creating and presenting the history and mythos of a motorcycle gang.

On art in Vegas: “People say there isn’t any. I assign students to go to galleries to look at shows and write about them. They say they can’t find any. I counted once. There are over 100 galleries here in every corner of Las Vegas. I Googled and mapped them. There are galleries here.”

Other interests: Comics (a fan of cartoonists Ivan Brunetti and Johnny Ryan), Internet piracy

Sticking around? “We bought a house last year so I think I’m stuck. I like working at CSN. My wife likes teaching.”