Christopher Russell - Bees for Sunset Park (2012)

Bronze

Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design for the historic 9th Avenue Station in Brooklyn on the D line.

Photo Stephan Hagen

Christopher Russell’s bronze sculptural installation, entitled Bees for Sunset Park consists of two sets of ornamental gates and a series of large scale finials for the fence. Russell brilliantly integrated contemporary bronze elements with the historic architecture, creating a timeless installation that honors the Arts & Crafts character of the station, originally designed by architect Squire Vickers. 

Inspired by bees, Russell envisioned the station as a dynamic beehive mirroring the station’s activity where people gather and move through during their daily pursuits. Drawing on this imagery, Russell designed the gates as an enlarged honeycomb inhabited by magnified bees, lively shown in their bustling swarms and the finials for the fence as a larger-than-life bee on a flower head.

Christopher Russell is a multimedia artist known for his ceramic works inspired by botany, art history, the decorative arts, and architecture. He started his career working mostly in drawing and painting. In addition to his site specific project for the 9th Avenue Station, Russell has created sculptures which juxtapose elements of the natural world with archeological and decorative arts elements such as urns and obelisks. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University. His works are included in many private and public collections nationwide such as the Longhouse Reserve, the Jack Lenor Larsen Estate, NYU Langone Art Program and Collection as well as others. Russell has participated in many prestigious residency programs including the Kohler Art Center in Wisconsin and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Maine. His works have been exhibited worldwide including at The Bernardaud Foundation (Limoges, France), Royal West Academy (Bristol, England), and Wave Hill (Bronx, NY). He joined Todd Merrill Studio in 2022 and was formerly represented by Julie Saul Gallery. He lives and works in New York City.

Previous
Previous

Donald Lipski - "Spot" (2018)

Next
Next

Anne Lindberg - "Ellipse" (2023)