Russell Miyaki is a contemporary artist and creative director in New York city, His studio is at Metro Art Studios in Bridgeport, CT, which is a renovated historic 1800’s corset factory. Russell is 3rd generation Japanese American born and raised in New Mexico. Attended school in Colorado graduating with honors majoring in advertising design and illustration. Throughout his career he has worked for several design studios and advertising agencies winning his share of industry awards and recognition. From the One Show Interactive to multiple Webbys. But his most fulfilling moment of his career was when he risked everything he had and started his own greeting card design studio where he designed, painted, and published his own lines of work. Russell established a national fan base of followers (pre-Twitter and Facebook) working with a unique technique of design markers onto metallic paper. He called them “marker paintings”. He hand-painted every single card that went out the door. His technique utilized a special stencil for him to marker in vibrant colors that seemed to swirl and come to life right on the surface of the metallic paper. This became a distinctive look that adorned the shelves of many boutique gift and gallery stores across the U.S, and is influential in his approach to his work. Russell works in oils, pigment sticks and acrylics on canvas, wall board and plexiglass layers. He is greatly inspired by the works of Peter Max, Juan Gris, Lee Krasner, August Macke, Franz Marc, Willem De Kooning and Jean-Michel Basquiat. “As humans we have many different ideas, beliefs, and perspectives throughout the world. That’s what makes this small blue dot we live on so beautiful, so amazing, and so frightening and divisive. Like a lot of us in search for harmony, success, peace and meaning in our lives, it can often feel like a sprint, or a race. And sometimes we overlook the simplest things that are the most fulfilling things in our world. This past year my work has been highly influenced by the emotional state of the world we’re in today. I went through this period of self-reflection in which I was painting how the world was making me feel. And that seemed to exasperate my emotional state rather than calm it, and after a while I came to realize that painting how I was feeling wasn’t really what I wanted, so I started painting how I wanted to feel.I focused on simple expressions and feelings of positive energy, happiness and fun. Currently, I have chosen dogs as a main feature in my paintings. I am enamored with how dogs coexist with humans. How they are such loyal, reliable companions to humans. They’re always there for you no matter if your day was rotten or joyous. They immediately help you forget that moment if you were having a bad day or having an intense argument. They aren’t there to judge you if you made a mistake, or if you even done something amazing. They remind you of perspective. They remind you that no matter who you are, what you believe in, the most important thing is that they just want to be with you and share a moment with you at the cost of a belly rub. Dogs connect us to a common moment of happiness.” Collections:Private collection, San Mateo, CAPrivate collection, Manhattan, NYPrivate collection, SingaporePrivate collection, Brooklyn, NYPrivate collection, Albuquerque, NMPrivate collection, San Francisco, CAPrivate collection, Taos, NMExhibits and juried shows:2022 Steelpointe Yacht & Charter Show, Bridgeport, CT2022 Gather Round Upside Down, Beechwood | Westport Library2022 The Klein Memorial Auditorium, Bridgeport, CT2022 Solo Show, Dryden Gallery Providence, RI2021 Bridgeport Art Trail, Bridgeport, CT2021 “PETS” Exhibizone Exhibition2021 A-I American Illustrators Honors2021 “Sources of Inspiration” Juried Show 3rd Place, Old Town Arts Guild2021 Disrupted Realism National Juried Show, Buckham Gallery, Flint Michigan2020 Bridgeport Art Trail, Bridgeport, CTFresh Art 2020, Marin Society of Artists Juried Show2020 Taos Art Insurgence, Taos NM; (Director’s Choice)2020 FALC 25th Annual Juried Exhibition, Cary NCIMPROMPTU IV, Cape Cod Cultural Center American Gift Industry, Moscone Center, San Francisco, CANational Stationery Show, Jacob Javitz, New York, NY