Mark B. Russell’s Bits and Pieces, in the Icebox

Mark B. Russell (undated; ca. 1980s-90s), plastic; installation detail at Icebox.

By JOHN DRURY November 18, 2024

The purveyors who see form and color, potential and endless possibility…those artistic alchemists, who understand prospect, in your mishandled waste and supposed trash, are the same of course, most often the makers who are misunderstood. And it is often in shadow, that the wellspring of each, madness and genius, pours forth from the same psyche. Sometimes, it is in such combination, lunacy and enlightenment, and to the consternation even their thus perplexed, creative peers, that those more difficultly defined walk the fence of understanding.

Mark B. Russell (undated; ca. 1980s-90s); plastic, 14x25x9 inches.

The artist Mark B. Russell died last year, leaving behind, in his subsequently abandoned studio space, a voluminous body of work – also largely foregone – after a slip-and-fall head injury marked a slow decline, in his health. A Williamsburg studio mate of several decades then, dusted those many things off - that body of work that Mark had made in the 1980’s and nineties, before largely abandoning object making and his turning to sound, performance and costuming as creative outlet. A makeshift and dense presentation of those objects filled wall, stoop, shelf and thumbed-together cubby alike, to reveal a body of work both unique and in monochromatic festerings, revealing an exquisite understanding form.

Mark B. Russell (1956-2023) at Icebox; exhibition installation, in the artist’s former studio. All works, unsigned.

Neither inside or outside, but a place of delicate balance culled of proficiency, drive and habitual action, Russell’s was a practice left largely to the dark recesses of the mind. Like so many, mostly disregarded by those in power – them foolishly allowed to make or break a career - it is in hindsight and the gifted opportune, that we might evaluate a maker’s production nearly en masse; that allowed to accumulate for lack of critical response, and the opportunities afforded through sales. Here however, a result this kind and devoted exposure, dozens of Mark’s works were to find new homes, the passage of time perhaps the key to understanding the truly unique…the singular production, an odd man out; Mark Russell’s works made with ingenuity and simple love of the game. WM