Thomas Russell 50 Years: Selected Paintings

Thomas Russell held his first solo exhibition at the Art Association of Newport (now the Newport Art Museum) in 1971. Since that time the artist has been exploring ideas and abstraction in his work, presented in series that he has divided into stylistic and iconographic modes. Russell writes, “My work, inspired by poetic things and ideas, seeks to express the radiant effect of their union. Sometimes a thing is first to appear and I search for the idea hiding within its form. Sometimes the idea is first to be known and I look for the form to embody it. Sometimes the thing and the idea emerge together and the painting produces itself.”

Thomas Russell received his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. His paintings have been exhibited in Rhode Island, New York and North Carolina. From 1979 through 2011 Russell was a professor of art history and visual art at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence College, Bryant University and Roger Williams University. 

Russell and his artist wife, Teresa, live on Prudence Island. 

Exhibition overview from museum website