Russell Shoemaker
It’s Not Everything, 2011, oil and ink on canvas
The Incumbent, 2010, oil on canvas, 72 x 49 in.
All Playing With The Same Cards, 2009, oil on canvas, 65 x 45 in.
Looped, 2010, oil on canvas, 60 x 40 in.
Baby Boomerang, 2010, oil on diptych on panel 25 x 36 in.
Beach, 2010, oil on canvas, 50 x 80 in.
Digital River, 2010, oil on canvas, 40 x 31 in.
Artist Bio
Russell Shoemaker graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in May 2009. He made work in San Francisco, California for a year before moving back to Kansas City to complete a residency at Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project.
Artist Statement
When crafting a factual theory, where does the theory end and fiction begin? I am interested in painting consciousness at its most unstable, specifically by the way in which the mind is able to borrow a memory, experience, or image and shuffle it into its own factual biography.
My imagery strives to create a loop of participation with the viewer. I create environments that are evolutionary and primal, channeling traditionally transcendent Rousseau-ian landscapes while confusing the space in others with painted representations of literal barriers. I choose to explore the body in various states, be it complete, abstracted, or taking on an unusual form. I’m intrigued by the way flesh acts as a method of projection for the viewer’s own memory, and I attempt to literally bring the viewer into the work by utilizing a borrowed first person perspective.
I hope to create a grappling effect of hallucinogenic seduction that is able to push and pull without inflicting a specific biography, truth or fiction.
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