Three of history’s most influential celebrities, with similar and untimely stories, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Kurt Cobain, serve as some of the subjects of Russell Young’s newest body of work, Dirty Pretty Things. Young’s larger-than-life images of these iconic figures are undeniably powerful and engaging.
 
As a celebrity photographer and music video director, Young captured numerous celebrities on film, both in stills as well as on video.  His celebrity photographs range from George Michael's album cover Faith to shots for Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. 
 
In his 2003 show, Pig Portraits, Young produced a series of silkscreen paintings of Malcolm X, Jane Fonda, Frank Sinatra, Sid Vicious and Juliette Lewis etc, not in their glamorous moments, but in police mug shots.  According to Young, his method of working was "to search, destroy and create".  After acquiring images of celebrities from police departments, newspaper cuttings and e-bay, he enlarged them up to 5 feet tall, silkscreened them onto canvas, then washed out the images in faded pink, blue, yellow, black and silver.  The result was a visually arresting, sold-out show.
 
In Dirty Pretty Things, the subject matter this time varies from familiar celebrities, to guns, to vintage bondage photos.  Young’s use of diamond dust in the painting of these portraits adds a magical glittering effect that imbues the images with an ethereal quality.  In his portrayal of easily recognised personalities, he deliberately used either tone on tone or produced them in monochrome, drawing the viewer to study the paintings more closely.  Seeing these personalities in this context represent perhaps the most objectively true portraits of them, asking us what do we really know and understand about these people, beyond their transient projection of fame? The decision by Young to borrow song lyrics from several of the most influential musicians of our time in titling his works adds another dimension to this compelling series.  Lyrics from songs by Johnny Cash such as “I will let you down, I will make you hurt” and “If loneliness meant world acclaim, everyone would know my name” serve as reminders of the tragedy and pain that will always surround these beloved figures.
 
Russell Young has risen to become one of the most collected and sought after artists of our time. Celebrities and collectors from the most discriminating to novice have added Russell’s works to their collections. His larger-than-life screenprint images from history and popular culture are compelling, daunting, and undeniable.
 
Russell is married to actress and presenter Finola Hughes, they have three young children Dylan, Cash and Sadie, Russell lives and works in New York and California.