Russ Sargeant

I’m a British abstract artist based near Birmingham in the West Midlands. My work explores the inner emotional landscape through colour, texture, collage and intuitive mark-making.

I liken my practice to that of an archaeologist, attempting to uncover meaning through experimentation and excavation, often creating out of the equilibrium of the tensions between faith and doubt.

The repetition of certain motifs features throughout my paintings, including vessels, crosses, asemic writing, scribbles and fragmented geometry. These create a visual language of their own and can take on a symbolic quality, open to interpretation by the viewer.

Influences vary from the abstract expressionism of Willem de Kooning and the energetic mark-making of Cy Twombly, to the bold, textural surfaces of Gerhard Richter. Among contemporary artists, I’m drawn to the irreverent energy of Taylor White and the interplay of colour and texture in Margaret Fitzgerald’s work.

Describing specific experiences is not my overall aim. Instead I want to create a space where hard-to-define moments and contradictions can be felt, acknowledged and personally interpreted.