Russell Sharon (b.1948) is an abstract landscape painter and wood sculptor. Raised on a small dairy farm in Randall, Minnesota, Sharon traces his intense creative relationship with nature to his rural upbringing, growing up on his family’s dairy farm. At age 20, Sharon left Minnesota to study at the University of the Americas in Mexico City (1972), followed by the MIT Student Art Association, Cambridge, MA (1975). His education fed his global curiosity, which he has brought to an intense artistic life working in New York, Minnesota, and Miami.
Moving to New York in the late 1970s, Sharon developed his neo-expressionist style in his downtown studio on the Lower East Side, which he shared with his late partner, Luis Frangella. In the backdrop of a highly commodified art scene, Sharon was an early contributor to the walls of Pier 34. Although Sharon became a key figure in the East Village art scene, showing his work at iconic galleries of the time including Hal Bromm, Civilian Warfare, and Gracie Mansion, collaborating with James Ivory and Martha Graham, art critic Carlo McCormick observed that Sharon’s work has always remained taken inspiration from his coming of age in Morrison County.
Using color to create environmental moods, Sharon’s work explores the experience of being in nature, compressing the changes of the landscape over time into two-dimensional renderings. Sharon has said about his work: “There appears to be a timeless point where painting both represents and becomes Nature, where abstraction and representation touch and separate; where the Spirit and Grace of Nature inform the artist directly, allowing the artist to work as a force of Nature, rather than as an interpreter.”
Surviving HIV and devastated by the loss of his community in the AIDS epidemic, Sharon re-settled in Miami, where he became a key figure in the burgeoning art scene in South Beach. Sharon continued working throughout his grief, developing a series of “chainsaw people” out of decimated Elm Trees and producing a large-scale sculpture installation at the Miami Art Museum (1988).
Capturing nature in its movement, power, and occasional capacity for violence, Sharon exemplifies an artist as guide, exploring the relationship of man to the environment in all its precarity. His work is important in chronicling the changing dynamics between humans and the natural world over the twentieth century.
Selected Press:
o Mn Artists - Falling Together: The Life and Art of Russell Sharon (March 2023)
o Podcast- Desperately Seeking the ‘80s (March 2023)
o Visual AIDS – An Interview with Russell Sharon (October 2022)
o PBS, Common Ground - Portrait Painter Russell Sharon (November 2011)
Selected Exhibition History:
2020s
“Roots: A Retrospective” Studio, Randall, MN (2023)
“Russell Sharon and Luis Frangella: A Life in Art” Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY (2022)
“Something Possible Everywhere: Pier 34 NYC 1983-84” (Curated by Jonathan Weinberg), Hudson Gallery, New York, NY (2016)
2010s
“Shape and Water” Cheryl Hazan Gallery, New York, NY (2018)*
Oceania Cruises (Curated by Frank Del Rio)* (2013)
2000s
“Recent Paintings, work by Russell Sharon” Odegard Showroom, Miami, FL (2006)
“Vintage East Village” (Curated by Rick Prol) Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY (2005)*
Societa Dante Alighieri, Coral Gables, FL (2003)
Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota (2002)
Luxe, Miami, FL (2002)
Southern Exposure Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL (2001, 2002)*
Galleria Spazio Diciotto, Florence, Italy (2000)
Cheryl Hazan, New York, NY (2000, 2002, 2003)
1990s
“The Artist as Destination” Open Studio in Randall, MN (1998)
821 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL (1997)
amfAR, New York, NY, (1994)
Sagar Studio, New York, NY (1993)
Daniel Broder Gallery, New York, NY (1991)
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY (1990)*
1980s
“Russell Sharon: Sculpture” Center for Fine Arts, Miami, FL (1988)
“Carved Wood Sculpture Figures” Hal Bromm Gallery Avenue A, New York, NY (1988)
THE Gallery, New York, NY (1989)*
Barbara Greene Gallery, New York, NY 1988*
“Russell Sharon: Sculpture” Center for Fine Arts, Miami, FL (1988)
“Carved Wood Sculpture Figures” Hal Bromm Gallery Avenue A, New York, NY (1988)
“Reflections of Social Change” Center for Visual Arts, Summit, NJ (1987)
“Sculpture: Sharon & Castoro” Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY (1987)
“Home Sweet Home: Furniture and Functional Objects by Artists” Hal Bromm Gallery, Avenue A, New York, NY (1986)
“TEN” Hal Bromm Gallery, Avenue A, New York, NY (1986)
Galerie Daniel, Montreal, Canada (1986)
“Landscape Paintings” Hal Bromm Gallery Avenue A, New York, NY (1986)
Avenue A Sculpture Park (1986)
“New Painting” Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY (1985)
“Russell Sharon: The Chainsaw People: A Country Tableau of New Painting and Sculpture” Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
“Paradise Lost: Russell Sharon Paintings” Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
“Climbing: The East Village” Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY (1984)
Portraits, PS.1, New York, NY (1983)
Danceteria, New York, NY (1983)
Terminal Show, New York, NY (1983)
Federal Plaza, New York, NY (1983)
Peizo Electric, New York, NY (1983)
Limbo Gallery, New York, NY (1983)
Selected Residencies & Teaching:
Bake House Art Complex, Miami FL (2005-2009)
Great Rivers Arts Association, Little Falls, MN (2005-2009)
Art Center/South Florida, Miami, FL (2000-2005)
Education
University of the Americas, Mexico City (1972)
MIT Student Art Association, Cambridge, MA (1975)
From left to right: Sharon in his Elk Street Studio with set pieces for Martha Graham Dance Company, c. 1981
Russell Sharon at Pier 34, photo by Andreas Sterzing c. 1983
Invitation for Chainsaw People exhibition at Hal Bromm Gallery, Photo by Glen Straight c. 1985