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On the occasion of his monumental solo presentation Russell Craig: Carceral Views at The Armory Show 2025 with Clubhouse Gallery, artist Russell Craig joined Kimberli Gant, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum, for a conversation hosted by The Center for Art and Advocacy. Held during a special Mimosa Breakfast on September 6th in Hudson Yards, NYC, the intimate talk explored Craig’s practice as a formerly incarcerated artist, both where he has come from and where he is heading. Craig’s recent works transform objects once circulated in prison economies—ramen noodle packets, leather belts, chip bags—into layered portraits and textured surfaces that affirm dignity and human perseverance. The series connects to a lineage of politically engaged artists, from Gustave Courbet to Jack Whitten, while remaining rooted in Craig’s personal journey and commitment to advocacy through art. His work is held in numerous esteemed public and private collections, including the Brooklyn Museum and the Studio Museum in Harlem, among others.

On the occasion of his inaugural solo exhibition in Wellington, Florida, "Russell Craig: Redemption", artist Russell Craig joined The Bronx Museum Director of Curatorial Programs Eileen Jeng Lynch for an intimate artist talk exploring the ideas, materials, and lived experiences that shape his practice. Held on February 2nd, the conversation brought audiences into dialogue with Craig’s evolving body of work and the personal histories embedded within it. Craig’s work transforms materials associated with prison life—ground coffee, ramen noodle pulp, leather, playing cards, and woven commissary wrappers—into monumental paintings and textured surfaces that confront the architecture and psychology of incarceration. Moving between abstraction and portraiture, the works in "Russell Craig: Redemption" reconstruct the emotional landscape of confinement while foregrounding dignity, resilience, and human connection. The exhibition reimagines the gallery as a passage through carceral space, where sealed and partially opened Prison Door paintings reveal intimate portraits of formerly incarcerated individuals and stories of collective survival.

On the occasion of the exhibition ‘Winfred Rembert. All of Me’ we joined artists Kate Capshaw, Russell Craig, and Amy Sherald in conversation in response to Winfred Rembert’s work and practice, moderated by Curatorial Senior Director, Kate Fowle, at Hauser & Wirth New York 69th street. – Hauser & Wirth is an international contemporary and modern art gallery with spaces in Zurich, London, Somerset, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Gstaad, St. Moritz, Monaco and Menorca. – Subscribe to Hauser & Wirth’s YouTube: https://youtube.com/@HauserWirth Sign up to Hauser & Wirth’s Newsletter: https://bit.ly/2ZIsYel Follow Hauser & Wirth on: Instagram: https://bit.ly/2TJN3gs Facebook: https://bit.ly/3exHrxX Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Agqbyo

A conversation with Catherine Gund, Aggie Gund, Adnan Khan, Russell Craig & Nick Turner on Aubin Pictures film Aggie. "Aggie" is a feature-length documentary that explores the nexus of art, race, and justice through the story of art collector and philanthropist Agnes “Aggie” Gund’s life. Emmy-nominated director Catherine Gund focuses on her mother’s journey to give viewers an understanding of the power of art to transform consciousness and inspire social change. Want to learn more about the film: https://aggiefilm.com/ Want to learn more about Aubin Pictures: https://aubinpictures.com/ Follow us online! https://www.instagram.com/aubinpictures/ https://twitter.com/AubinPics

Artist Russell Craig joins Rail ArTonic Editor Jessica Holmes for a conversation. We conclude with a poetry reading by Dante Clark. Learn more: https://brooklynrail.org/events/2022/05/06/dark-reflections-russell-craig ~ ~ ~ The Rail has a tradition of ending our conversations with a poem, and on this day we were fortunate to have Dante Clark reading. ~ ~ ~ Learn more about our conversations with artists at: https://brooklynrail.org/events Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brooklynrail/ Russell Craig Philadelphia-based artist Russell Craig is co-founder of Right of Return, USA, the first national fellowship dedicated to supporting formerly incarcerated artists. Craig’s artwork was prominently featured in the critically-acclaimed Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration at MoMA PS1. His first solo exhibition, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, was featured at Magic Gardens (Philadelphia). Craig has been a featured speaker on multiple panels about criminal justice reform, and he recently served as keynote speaker at the 10th Annual Student Engagement Lecture Series at Manhattan College. Dark Reflections at Malin Gallery is the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York City. Craig’s work is in several prominent private collections and in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum. Jessica Holmes Writer, editor, and critic Jessica Holmes’s writing features regularly in BOMB, Hyperallergic, and The Brooklyn Rail, where she also edits the ArTonic column. Other bylines include Vanity Fair Spain, The Magazine Antiques, and The Woman’s Art Journal. Recent exhibition catalogue contributions include_Judith Braun: My Pleasure_ (Opalka Gallery, Russell Sage College), Ellsworth Ausby: Somewhere in Space, Paintings from the 1960s and 1970s (Eric Firestone Gallery) and Markus Linnenbrink: THEREARESPACESTHATBREATHE (Museum of New Art, Portsmouth). Previously she served as Editor-in-Chief of the arts publication Degree Critical. For nearly two decades, she worked for the Calder Foundation, including 6 years as its Deputy Director. Dante Clark Bronx- based Dante Clark is a writer, musician, and actor. A two-time Pushcart nominee, his work has been featured in The Root, Afropunk, wildness, Brooklyn Poets’ Poet of the Week, The Slowdown, Hooligan Mag, and elsewhere. Clark graduated from Hunter College with a BA in creative writing and he has the student loan debt to prove it. He’s performed his poetry at venues like the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the Bowery Poetry Club, The Montauk Club, and his living room (much to the chagrin of his downstairs neighbors). Clark has also received support from organizations including Catapult, Cave Canem, and In Surreal Life where he served as a co-fellow for the 2021 sessions. Along with wanting to free the land, Dante just wants to create in a world where all his homies can prosper.

The Rendering Justice exhibition, curated by artist Jesse Krimes, is an expansive examination of mass incarceration and an unflinching depiction of contemporary America. The artworks are part of Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Reimagining Reentry program, which supports formerly incarcerated artists in the creation of public art projects. Works included feature varied responses to the displacement of bodies and revocation of autonomy entailed in incarceration. The works affirm how artists maintain a sense of identity, regain their agency, and grapple with coercive forces until—and after—they reenter society. Rendering Justice is created in partnership with the African American Museum in Philadelphia and is made possible with a grant from the Art for Justice Fund. Russell Craig is a painter and Philadelphia native whose work combines portraiture with deeply social and political themes. A self-taught artist who survived nearly a decade of incarceration after growing up in the foster care system, Craig creates art as a means to explore the experience of overcriminalized communities and reassert agency after a lifetime of institutional control. His work has been shown at the Philadelphia African American Museum, and included in group shows like Truth to Power, State Goods: Art in the Era of Mass Incarceration, HBO’s OG Experience, and is currently being shown at MoMA PS1. His work has garnered coverage in outlets including Artforum, ArtNews, ArtinAmerica, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post, Artsy, The Guardian, and The New York Times. Craig is an alumni of Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Restorative Justice Guild program, a 2017 Right of Return fellow, and a 2018 Ford Foundation: Art For Justice Fellow. Rendering Justice Exhibition @ African American Museum of Philadelphia October 28, 2020 - January 3, 2021

Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) hosts Art at a Time Like This, a nonprofit arts organization, for a panel discussion with thought leaders and artists about mass incarceration and inequalities in the justice system. Participating voices include Russell Craig, Chire Regans, Reginald O’Neal, and Exchange for Change director Kathie Klarreich. The conversation will be moderated by Barbara Pollack, Northeastern University School of Law, 1982, co-founder and co-director of Art at a Time Like This. The discussion will also touch upon the organization's public art project 8X5, named for the size of an average prison cell, which will be on display throughout the city during Miami Art Week.

Brandan BMike Odums and Russell Craig, celebrated visual artists from New Orleans and Philadelphia, come together at Philly's Know Your Rights Camp to share powerful stories of resilience and the life-changing impact of art. For them, art isn’t just a medium; it’s a lifeline—a way for young people to channel their struggles, frustrations, and dreams. Russell, reflecting on his own journey from a tumultuous past marked by incarceration to the canvas of success, speaks to the relentless power of imagination and the will to overcome. Through their words, they urge young people to see art as a tool for rewriting their narratives and finding hope in the face of adversity. The session becomes a deeply emotional call to harness creativity as a force for self-discovery, change, and boundless possibility.