Russ Mills:\u00a0\u2018Kitchen sink surrealism\u2019 was an ill conceived term I came up with in 2008 to accompany my debut solo show at Red Propeller. I\u00a0wanted something fairly ambiguous and yet not too hi brow to\u00a0describe the work. I was still finding my way in subject matter and\u00a0had a tendency to plant animal heads onto human torsos, that was\u00a0the surrealism part, the \u2018Kitchen sink\u2019 came from the way I was\u00a0working, throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the images,\u00a0in the range of marks, textures and strange subjects.<\/p>\n Where did you learn to draw? I love the way you quite untraditionally\u00a0combine materials in works like \u2018IBEX 3-6\u2019, it gives them such an\u00a0interesting depth of colour.<\/strong><\/p>\n I drew pictures from an early age as a quick alternative to writing, It\u00a0has felt natural for as long as I can remember. I learned to draw\u00a0properly the first time I was given any advice on how to do so. On\u00a0my first day at North-brook College in Worthing, we were thrown\u00a0right in at the deep end, no induction just straight into\u00a0 soft pencils\u00a0on big paper. Before that I\u2019d spent most of the time copying\u00a0pictures out of comics and magazines. The shock and awe\u00a0treatment of art college was a big wake up and the weekly life study\u00a0classes were more valuable to me than anything else I experienced\u00a0throughout education. I still don\u2019t class myself as an expert\u00a0draughtsman, I\u2019m happy to be competent.\u00a0Ever since art college I\u2019ve enjoyed unconventional mixes of\u00a0materials, that\u2019s the primary reason I use the\u00a0 computer to ease the\u00a0process, if an arrangement doesn\u2019t work I haven\u2019t wasted a day\u00a0putting it together and am able to start a fresh with no tears.<\/p>\n How do you build your works? Is there a process that you repeat or is each one completely spontaneous?<\/strong><\/p>\n Each time I start a series of Images, it\u2019s often as if I\u2019m starting from\u00a0scratch, mainly because my memory is so poor. I often have a\u00a0rough idea or new technique that I want to explore, I then have to\u00a0refamiliarise myself with every part of how I construct my images,\u00a0this is hugely frustrating but always results in something new and\u00a0accidental ending up in the mix. As time goes by I\u2019m more\u00a0meticulous over each aspect of the work. The initial sketch is\u00a0always the foundation, at least\u00a0 that\u2019s one thing I remember how to\u00a0do on repeat. Each subsequent stage is trial and error until\u00a0something begins to emerge. The more recent mixed media pieces\u00a0have had 5 or 6 stages of building up layers, the final stage being a\u00a0total brain \u2018switch off\u2019 in order to achieve ephemeral marks that are\u00a0completely spontaneous.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been following your work for quite a while now; recently you seem to\u00a0have taken a big shift from very painterly mark-making (as seen in your\u00a0work \u2018MIA\u00a0 ALIX\u2019, 2009) to a much more graphic style, such as the\u00a0drawings surrounding the figures in \u2018KOPESETIK\u2019, 2016 and\u00a0‘Breckenridge’ 2017. What inspired you to\u00a0 evolve your drawing style in\u00a0this way?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mia Calix and that series of images were an exercise in minimalism,\u00a0I used charcoal and water and completed each in under 6 hours, I\u2019d\u00a0not done drawings of\u00a0 that scale before, so, as usual I was winging\u00a0it. The contrast between those charcoal pieces and the more recent\u00a0work isn\u2019t deliberate, it\u2019s just how things have\u00a0 worked out. Kopesetik in particular was the culmination of a collection of scribbles and doodles I\u2019ve amassed over the last few years, I\u00a0wanted to involve those in\u00a0 my images somehow, rather than let them fester in a pile on a shelf. The figurative elements were more carefully considered than in previous work, I\u2019m not sure that\u00a0necessarily made for a better image, maybe a tighter one.<\/p>\n Your paintings have so many layers to them – it\u2019s a puzzle to guess what\u00a0each mark is made of! What brands and kinds of materials do you use? Do you have a\u00a0 favourite\u00a0medium to work in?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019m not a materials purist by any stretch of the imagination, I\u2019ll use\u00a0something cheap if it gives the desired effect. If I was pressed I\u2019d\u00a0say that Posca Markers<\/a> are the most useful for finishing off larger\u00a0works, they\u2019re completely unpredictable on uneven surfaces and\u00a0often provide nice accidental floods or splashes. Quink is a very\u00a0under valued medium for interesting, unconventional results, it\u2019s\u00a0not light fast so the colour can change within hours, it also reacts\u00a0with certain chemicals in paper, word to the wise though, it will\u00a0bleed through nearly any water based medium so needs to be fixed\u00a0hard.<\/p>\n How do you choose your subjects?<\/strong><\/p>\n I like to use subjects that have a mixture of disinterest and\u00a0contempt in their eyes, there\u2019s a look in portraiture that\u2019s almost\u00a0undefinable, that has traversed\u00a0 hundreds of years. A blank, yet\u00a0aloof expression that most likely filtered down from relentless\u00a0depictions of royalty, an almost \u2018dead\u2019 look in some cases. I don\u2019t\u00a0think I\u2019ve found the perfect look that others have, although that\u00a0gives me something else to strive for.<\/p>\n What\u2019s an ideal day in the studio for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n An ideal day is one where I actually make marks rather than just\u00a0thinking about making marks, I blame that on a severe lack of focus\u00a0in the periods between\u00a0 projects. The summer time is precious as everything can come together a lot quicker, though, the lure of the\u00a0sea is a massive distraction in what should be premium work time.<\/p>\n Have you got any projects coming up? Is there anywhere we can see\u00a0more of your work both online and in the flesh?<\/strong><\/p>\n For the last six months or so I\u2019ve been freelancing for Marvel\u00a0Entertainment, working on some characters for various coming\u00a0attractions that I\u2019m not allowed to mention until next year.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve got\u00a0several pots of personal work on the cooker that should begin to\u00a0unfold in the next few months.\u00a0I currently have work on display at Red Propeller Gallery in\u00a0Kingsbridge, Devon<\/a>. They also handle most of my online sales at\u00a0the moment, I\u2019ll be refitting my online shop early 2018<\/a>, motivation\u00a0and distractions permitting.<\/p>\n \u2018I love the way that every piece of popular culture from the recent past is smashed together into a garish soup and regurgitated into real life with absolutely no boundaries\u2019. Russ Mills combines moments of contemporary life, expressive mark making and a wide range of mediums to make beautiful, emotional portraits that are represented by the Red Propeller Gallery, Devon. We caught up with him to discuss the shift in his recent work and find out more about his practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":1382571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,474],"tags":[63,113,500,2292],"class_list":["post-1382557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-artists","category-drawing-art-technique","tag-drawing","tag-painting","tag-portraiture","tag-russ-mills"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.jacksonsart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ibex_sketch_2011.jpg\")
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