Steven Russell Black

Steven Russell Black is an American artist living in San Rafael, CA who “champions the odd, fringe, or otherwise unappreciated”. I’m totally down with that, especially since he  does such a stellar job. I ran across his work for the first time fairly recently and was pretty much blown away. Of course his subject matter speaks to me (tentacles? teeth? floating bodies? SOLD), but regardless of subject matter he has an undeniable virtuosity that is nothing short of awe-inspiring. He does some (excellent) painting, but is incredibly prolific with pencil crayon and graphite on coloured paper… not to dis his painting, of course, but his drawing is a thing of wonder – and he does a hell of a lot of it. So yeah, focusing on the drawing, here.

Wild Spirit – 2012

I mean, really. That’s a beautiful drawing. Of course I’m all about figurative drawing and H.P. Lovecraft-esque stuff but wow. Then there’s this series – a drawing-a-day run that I can pretty much gaurantee is above and beyond any other drawing-a-day series you’ve seen.

010 of 365 – Bite

Seriously, it would take me a week to render something in that detail, and to be frank, it would be nowhere near that good. Sigh. Here’s another:

005 – the Fire Inside

Now, I don’t know if you, dear reader, are the kind of person who likes to own original art, but take my word for it – it’s a heady thrill. The lovely thing about these amazing drawings that Black apparently knocks off like it ain’t no thing is that they are indeed for sale, usually through eBay auction. Talking to Black, he told me that he mostly updates his Facebook page and that’s the best place to see his newest work. He’s been on Juxtapoz and is starting to pick up some real steam on the various image-sharing networks, so  if you’re into his work (and why wouldn’t you be unless you’re a bad person),  my advice is get in while the getting’s good because this guy’s too talented not to be going places.

As mentioned, Black’s most recent work can be seen on the Book of Faces, but for those weirdos & haters among you that don’t have a Facebook account, his work can also be seen on DeviantArt.