Born in Lufkin, Texas in 1971, the landscape and culture of deep East Texas influenced Russ in an important way. Working in traditional and experimental methods Russ uses landscape as both a center and as a point of departure. Major personal and artistic changes occurred however, when Russ fell ill with an auto-immune disease in 1994. He worked and completed graduate studies at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas until a relapse in 1997. This forced him to change his working methods and materials from large mixed media works to small-scale watercolors. The circumstance gave a new meaning to growth, through volatility, resulting in more content-driven work, concerning spiritual issues. Russ Havard's paintings have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions both regionally and nationally. Artist Statement:My work demonstrates the paradox between space and reality. I use landscape to symbolize growth through volatility, conveying beauty within desolation. Using wood, paint, paper, and razor, I create, break apart and reconstruct until the pieces are de facto collages, portraying how forces play with both internal and external realities. Landscape painting tends to draw on the traditional and literal as well as the symbolic. While patterns, such as bark, leaves, grass, etc., physically exist in the landscape, they also exist in the form of thoughts. Sometimes the internal thought patterns become distractions and sometimes the roles are reversed, with the external invading the world of dreams and ruminations. While the media and patterns make up the skin of my constructions, the shapes aid in generating meaning and providing a formal platform, giving the images and symbols clarity and dimension. The process of endless building and re-configuring, transcends the physical, and encompasses the symbolic.