“Everything changes always - even if we are unable to see it.”

Born in Southern California, Adde Russell has spent several years exhibiting her work in the Northwest, New York and Italy before making the move to Austin, Texas.

Adde has also enjoyed a career in design and has been fortunate to work with talented musicians and authors creating cover and packaging art. Her diverse interests and background have informed the work she does today. Although, focused on traditional painting techniques, her work is far from conventional. She experiments with her process and examines the use of materials making her work unique and vital.

"I compare my work to wading into the shallow waters of a bay, careful to tread mindfully on the uneven bottom. I see an unusually colored rock that stands out among the silt. As I bend to reach for it, the glare of the sun hitting the water is blinding and I lose my place. The floor becomes infinite as I can only feel sand sifting between my toes. Perhaps I was never meant to find it or maybe nothing would be different if I had. Everything changes always - even if we are unable to see it.

“I begin each painting without a map to a conclusion. I savor building precious and detailed foundations that I will eventually crack open and breakdown. By altering the alignment of the subject along with the surfaces they’re painted on, I’m able to fracture assumptions. I challenge what the viewer may presuppose because I appreciate that what we perceive in our own lives is always shifting. I believe there is beauty in the tension to plan for outcomes that don’t fulfill ones expectations - as unsettling as it may feel in the moment.

“I work to examine dueling realities. There is a story behind subjects in color, but the narrative is transformed once they are presented monochromatically. Occasionally disclosing a glimpse of the craft, leaving areas marked up with disheveled brush strokes is another attempt at conveying the honesty in the process. I’m not always clear where I’m going, but I trust the work to get me there. "