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Lucky Devil 7's photostream |
I have been making collages since I was six. After my first attempt, I was scolded for cutting up my parents’ magazines and getting glue on the dining room table. Undaunted and now in mid-career, it is still my favorite medium. For the past four years my collages have been constructed from the vintage books, letters, and papers I collect, and a substantial part of my inspiration is the constant decay of these ephemeral materials. Crumbling books are taken apart page by page, carefully dissected, sorted, and filed by hierarchies and taxonomies. My source library is focused on a basic litany of personally symbolic imagery—birds, insects, animals [walking, crawling, swimming]; plants, fruit, flowers [roses, wildflowers, non-flowering]; art history [men, women, drapery, landscape] and many others—but by far my favorite subjects are anatomical and medical illustrations. I am absolutely fascinated by seemingly morbid old chromolithographs of X, Y, or Z ailment or disorder, not because they are lurid or gruesome, but because they are haunting, gorgeously-rendered representations of the human body at its most vulnerable. They show us as the soft, fragile beings we are, ambivalent in our tentative victories over the unseen forces we often forget exist in nature. The processes and procedures of illness, prevention, and cure intrigue me to no end. These figures also reflect the way we "speak" to our selves, our bodies, each other, and the layers of visible and invisible worlds surrounding us. We are rapidly dislocating ourselves from some of our most ancient and basic forms of communication (handwriting, letter writing), and removing ourselves from our traditional, holistic connectedness to the natural world (folk remedies, food customs, seasonal rituals). I’m not a luddite, nor do I mourn these disconnections out of maudlin nostalgia (on the contrary, I work with technology daily—much of my artwork depends on it—and I’ve become very accustomed to the luxuries it allows.) For the most part, we live in a sterilized society where we rarely witness the miracles of birth or death (and, some might argue, anything in between), where being sick equals being dirty, and where many of us rarely see stars or know one plant from another, much less the vocabularies and fables associated with them. Food is purged of taste and nutrition in order to stave off decay and damage. Children are kept indoors for fear of boo-boos and boogiemen. “Wild” is an abstract term. Our bodies don’t require that we be old-fashioned, but I hate to imagine a life entirely unfettered by those bonds. I hope that my collages are quietly disturbing reminders of these losses.
Enjoy! Please leave comments, critiques, a testimonial, and questions!
over 18
Richard Russell
www.myrichardsart.com
Lucky Devil 7's favorite photos from other Flickr members (341)
Contacts (446)
Groups (44)
- Tuscany / Toscana 33,436 photos, 3,191 members
- Picoans 680 photos, 70 members
- Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day 2010 -- closed 1,287 photos, 121 members
- Roma - Rome 78,053 photos, 7,897 members
- Obsessive Compulsive Art Tendencies (OCAT) 44,374 photos, 2,436 members
- Mid-century modern ceramics & tableware 6,031 photos, 953 members
- BLOOD PUKE 3,070 photos, 646 members
- Anatomy Tattoos 168 photos, 197 members
- Fine Art Limited Editions 1,237 photos, 63 members
- Notpaper (a group about collage) 13,788 photos, 1,097 members
- AnatomX 96 photos, 61 members
- ! Illustration Now ! 243,349 photos, 13,958 members
- Semiotic Syntax 294 photos, 91 members
- GOOD ART 737 photos, 89 members
- Artworks on book pages (no sketchbooks/journals) 1,791 photos, 403 members
- ★ ★EVOLUTION DESIGN GRAPH★ ★ 24,594 photos, 2,512 members
- I Make Collages 23,112 photos, 1,755 members
- Collages / 拼貼 21,706 photos, 1,241 members
- Altered Books 5,740 photos, 1,139 members
- Gluebooks 2,612 photos, 364 members
- Artist's Books 4,220 photos, 459 members
- Medical Art 57 photos, 172 members
- BSAS ART 11,446 photos, 1,092 members
- Collage Kids 28,870 photos, 2,164 members
- Freakwerx 4,863 photos, 254 members
- COLLAGE COLLLAGES COLLAGEMANIA 1,744 photos, 100 members
- Raw Art Visionary 40,245 photos, 2,098 members
- Innovative collage 7,723 photos, 548 members
- Collage Jerks 10,025 photos, 1,047 members
- Vintage Collage Art 22,148 photos, 2,858 members
- internet artists gallery 116,871 photos, 5,178 members
- Medicaments 539 photos, 227 members
- take flight (bird art/craft, no photos) 6,614 photos, 821 members
- Animals in Your Art 56,816 photos, 4,180 members
- Experimental Dream 107,987 photos, 6,426 members
- collage art 711 photos, 35 members
- Greek Mythology 3,243 photos, 661 members
- Cut 'n' Paste 17,811 photos, 1,067 members
- WaX WorX 2,449 photos, 318 members
- Vintage Paper Collage 10,322 photos, 1,276 members
- All Collages 110,491 photos, 8,075 members
- Collage Crazy 68,252 photos, 5,729 members
- Art and Artists. 238,907 photos, 15,685 members
- Your Art - Not Photography 343,745 photos, 24,532 members
Testimonials (3)
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seriykotik1970 says:
"Some of the best collages I've seen and an antidote to the whimsical sugar-frosted pink fairy cute baby and birds' egg style scrapbook images that seem to be mainstream collage art. Lucky Devil 7 takes collage back to its dada roots- here the surreal has a dark edge, the veneer is stripped away to show the chipboard underneath, the skull is visible beneath the skin. The apparently random association of scraps of the past have a powerful emotional appeal. It is, in fact, the stuff of thought."
27th August, 2008
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Mask says:
"I don't know how or where LD7 is getting the images for his work, but I definitely love them all, the simple images carry each and every peice. Either predominately busy surfaces or not, all are interesting.
His unique and creative touch with these images and wax really set his work apart from the usual flickr picture. LD7 is concerned with the body, and it is his major theme. You will notice that almost every inch of his work is taken up as if you are looking through or in between something; the transparencies are wonderful, as if you're looking through skin!
These layers of wax give each peice a very old, and eerie feeling.
sometimes it feels like that they were in the back of a drawer for 100's of years, and you've just discovered them. Showing that there are still treasures to be found in this world after all. It is evident that time and effort went into each and every placement. LD7's work at times, may slap many viewers in the face as too simple, but his work really strikes a chord with me."2nd October, 2007
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URBAN SOULE says:
"I have successfully went through all Lucky Devil 7s pictures from beginning to end n and you should too, I'm very impressed and love all them, I wanted to favor all them! Great work!"
7th September, 2007
- Name:
- Richard Russell
- Joined:
- June 2005
- Hometown:
- Atlanta
- Currently:
- Atlanta, usa
- I am:
- Male and Taken
- Occupation:
- artist 24 hours/creative services manager 8 hours
- Website:
- Richard Russell: Artwork











