Provenance: Private collection Switzerland.

Born in 1959, Russell Young began his artistic career as a photographer, having studied graphic design, drawing and photography at Chester Art College and Exeter College of Art in England. He lived first in London where he photographed the night life of musicians. In 1986 he was commissioned to do the iconic cover image for George Michael’s album “Faith”, which then opened the way for him to concentrate on the portrait photography of young celebrities and brought him to Los Angeles. In the course of the 1990s Russell Young began painting and moved to New York, since the hectic life of editorial photographer no longer met his creative needs. From 2003 he began to receive international recognition as a painter with his “Pig Portraits”, which show police photographs of stars, as well as the series “Dirty Little Things” from 2010, which deals with the phenomenon of the stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Curt Cobain, Brigitte Bardot, Barak Obama and James Dean.

As a great admirer of Andy Warhol, Russel Young now works with an old silk screen press previously owned by the Pop Art artist. He adds saturated acrylic colours to the colour silk screens printed on canvas, which makes the motifs appear somewhat stronger and more grainy.
The title of the work offered here at auction “Reach out and touch faith” comes from the lyrics of the song “Personal Jesus” by the band Depeche Mode. The symbol of Marilyn Monroe, rendered more intense with the glamorous layer of diamond powder, is intermixed by the artist with Pop culture and thereby creates a celebration of the power of the stars in western culture.