Source: CCTV.com

04-11-2007 10:29

What do Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie have in common? Brad Pitt would be the obvious answer. But they not only share the same taste in men, but also buy the same gifts for their man.

Both Aniston and Jolie have, at different times, bought Russell Young silk screen works as Christmas presents for Pitt.

In fact, mug shots of famous iconic people by the British born artist are fast becoming a big hit among the A-list crowd which also includes Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Kirsten Dunst and Kanye West.

Titled "Pig Portraits", from the urban slang for a police officer, Young's series of silk-screened paintings catch icons such as Elvis Presley, Jane Fonda, Al Pacino, Martin Luther King Jr. and others.

Russell Young said, "Pig is (slang) for police so I was using mug shots and it was reaction to my former career as a photographer and I wanted to sort of show people in their most raw, their worst moments, you know at 4:00 a.m. in the morning, drunk, caught by some clerk or police photographer."

As the British-born artist works at his studio in Brooklyn, he begins with images collected from newspaper cuttings, eBay, or from police departments throughout the world. Some are even given by celebrities themselves.

Once Young has a mug shot he likes, he creates a huge image of it--five feet tall by four feet wide. Then, using a machine once used by Pop Art Icon Andy Warhol, he silk screens the image onto canvas. The artist likes what he calls the rawness of the silk-screen process, since it requires a lot of physical energy.

The idea of creating "anti-celebrity" portraits for Young comes from the glamour of the dark side in crime, fame, sex, drugs and rock and roll. The artist calls them the soundtrack to his life and his heroes that are missing from the Art History.

Young says he only shies away from working with a mug shot for personal reasons, such as if the subject was a friend.

 

Editor:Liu Fang