Most of Russell Gordon’s bios online say the artist is known for his meticulous still life paintings and avian art, executed in a classical style influenced by the Dutch Masters of the 17th century.
When I saw the new body of work he will be showing at Principle Gallery this October—proud portraits of animals in human garb from another era—I had to double check that they were by the same artist. But when you dive deeper into Gordon’s portfolio, you find that the elements of whimsy and fairytale were always there; he has simply amplified them in his recent paintings.
Low Ceiling, oil on panel, 8 x 10 in.
“I see it as more of an evolution,” says Gordon. “It’s still animals and birds, there’s just more anthropomorphism…I’m both a history buff and a naturalist. And in these paintings those things combine as if these were commonly observable creatures, doing their level best in their noblest uniforms and roles, deservedly posing for portraits for posterity.”
Amphibious, a portrait of a bulging-eyed frog dressed in the costume of a colonial-era patriot, exudes an air of dignified nobility. One of the first pieces in this vein that Gordon created, it harkens back to an earlier painting that alluded to the fairytale The Frog Prince.“I started to think about what if the frog grew up and became a patriot?” he says.
Amphibious, oil on linen, 8 x 8 in.
In Low Ceiling, an earnest, unflinching seal wears aviator goggles, a head set and helmet in army green. “Part of the appeal is the unlikeliness of the circumstances we find ourselves in—how did we get here? Even if this animal would take a military role, wouldn’t it be an aquatic one? Why would a sea otter be in the desert? It becomes an exercise in absurdity. And here’s this animal that is actually taking itself seriously, which is humorous from a human perspective. Generally, that’s the theme of the show—whimsy and irony and a little bit of seriousness.”
Grenadier, oil on canvas, 8 x 5½ in.
Sod Buster is a picture of a prairie dog farmer that Gordon made with thoughts of the historical period of Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion in mind; while Grenadier features a meerkat, a type of mongoose native to South Africa. He wears a vaguely British uniform from the Boer War, perhaps hinting at themes of colonialism.
But despite these subtle allusions to history, Gordon really wants to surprise and delight viewers with this series.
Sod Buster, oil on canvas, 12 x 9 in.
“I hope the paintings are compelling on their own,” he says. “I want them to draw the viewer in as if he or she were receiving an invitation to something novel, something magical, something somehow both serious and delightfully absurd. I want the portraits to provoke the question, 'What in the world?!' but to be rendered so convincingly that any barrier to belief is insignificant. Seeing, then, really is believing.”
Featuring roughly 25 works, the show, Russell Gordon: Instinct & Order opens on October 10 with a reception from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and hangs through November 3. —
Principle Gallery 208 King Street • Alexandria, VA 22314 • (703) 739-9326 • www.principlegallery.com
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