Original Oil Painting by Darshan Russell Soldiers Fountain 1990 Poughkeepsie

Artist Bio

Hudson Valley artist Darshan Russell is a self-taught artist and has been exhibiting her work in many locations about the region. The colors and feeling of her compositions are greatly influenced by Matisse, but Russell’s inspiration comes directly from life and the simple scenes that surround her in Poughkeepsie, Kingston, Hudson and other Hudson River towns where she paints. Occasionally, Ms. Russell will paint cities that she has traveled to like New York, Baltimore, Portland and Paris, but the bulk of her work documents local scenes and local people. The photographs accompanying articles in the Poughkeepsie Journal or the New York Times inspire much of her figurative work. Portraits of Madelaine Albright and Mayor Dinkins are part of her repertoire as well the less notorious individuals.

Ms. Russell’s paintings have a unique look that can be contributed to her practice of daily painting and years of  dedication  to develop a style all her own. She is as interested in landscapes as figures and city scenes. Her work has become well collected with the increased appreciation in folk art and naïve work.

In 1993, Rich O’Corozine of the Poughkeepsie Journal wrote, “With vision comes transformation, and Darshan Russell, a 40 year old street painter, has the power to transform. With paintings so potent and beautifully realized that one wonders of the pain inherent in their gestation, Russell’s paintings are magical interpretations of a Poughkeepsie that few can ever visit. Much like the Kingston paintings of Todd Samara, Russell’s view of her city is more internalized that observed, more pure that artful, truly a place of the mind. But unlike Samara, she breaks fresher ground. Her work is psychologically more demanding.”

Critic Wayne Lempka writes, “Russell’s works are truly seductive. One is immediately lured into them by their lively surface and bright colors. Her grouping of three separate New York City scenes in a fine display with their whirlwind of furious brushwork and quirky stacking of shapes. One feels the continual motion of life in the city even when some of the works lack a human presence.”