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“Ali Diptych” in Thunder White is by Russel Young, a British Pop artist best known for his large-scale silk screen paintings of cultural icons. The print depicts one of Young’s most popular portraits of the infamous Muhammid Ali, a photo taken during training for the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome. These pigments are sourced from around the world, from a mountainside in Waimea Canyon, Kauai, to a pigment shop in Florence that dates its lineage to pre-Renaissance times. The art captures his prominent exploration of stardom, excess, and the complicated nature of the American Dream. Even with Young’s notion of the tragic celebrity, the piece can be seen as an ode to beauty, success, and possibility, where icons like Ali have inspired generations of individuals. The signed piece measures at 62 in. tall and 94 in. wide.
To see more of Young’s work and learn more about Taglialatella Galleries, visit:
https://www.taglialatellagalleries.com/artists/russell-young
Russell Young’s alluring, larger-than-life portraits of iconic cultural figures explore both glamorous American mythologies and their dark underbellies of crime, addiction, and death. His silkscreen paintings portray celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Kurt Cobain; the artist recontextualizes their iconic appearances in high-contrast palettes, often interweaving them with diamond dust to heighten their glittery, sensual allure. In other works, shellac drips and smears in a visceral, wound-like manner. Young has exhibited in New York, London, Paris, Shanghai, Vienna, and Los Angeles. His work belongs in the collections of the Albertina Museum, the Cornell Art Museum, the Saatchi Collection, and the White House Collection. Celebrities including Brad Pitt, Elizabeth Taylor, and Kanye West have all bought his work. Young has also directed music videos, and in recent years, Dutch Golden Age paintings of flowers have become a frequent motif.
