“To become and become undone
As becomes done again as not before
Becomes unimaginable
As is visible and
As invisible as always”
- Russell Maltz
In the summer of 1974, I worked as a studio assistant for Al Held at the time he was preparing for his retrospective at The Whitney Museum of American Art. From 1976 to 1978 I lived in downtown N.Y.C., sharing a loft space at 36 Cooper Square with other young artists. During this time, as did many of my artist friends, I worked as a carpenter and house painter, renovating studios and lofts in SoHo for more established artists. I moved from 36 Cooper Square in the summer of 1978 to my current studio on Crosby Street, where I continue to live and work.
132 Crosby Street Studio in 1983 with early STACK works in progress.
In recent years, I have been reflecting on the history of my work. This is because beginning in 2012, I had an exhibition of works, selected from my Ball Park series dating from 1976 to 2012, at Minus Space Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Then Stadtgalerie in Saarbrucken, and Galerie Michael Sturm in Stuttgart, Germany mounted a survey exhibition exploring 40 years of work. This was accompanied by a monograph published by The Stadtgalerie Saarbrucken, and printed by Kerber Verlag in Biefeld, Germany in 2017. In April 2021, I was interviewed about my life and practice as an artist by Brainard Carey for WYBC, Yale University Radio.
At The Suburban in Oak Park, Illinois
The beginning of my practice, I identify with a project begun in Fall 1976, which would significantly affect the course of my thinking: using an empty swimming pool at C.W. Post College as both my studio and as project space, I explored differing aspects of painting as site specific, and as installation. After two years of working in the pool, I co-curated with the artist Ted Stamm the POOL PROJECT, which consisted of site-specific projects by thirty artists. A catalogue, documenting these projects was published in 1980. The proposals, drawings, photographs and films, which made up the POOL PROJECT were shown in May 1980, at Artist Space on Hudson Street in Tribeca, and reviewed by April Kingsley for The Village Voice.
POOL – Black Zone 1979
Following the POOL PROJECT, I had my first one-person exhibition; I installed the site-specific work “ZONE” at P.S.1, Long Island City, Queens, N.Y.
In the spring, 1985, when the Berlin Wall was still standing, I had my first solo exhibition in Europe in West Berlin at Der Standort, which was an abandoned underground parking garage in Kruezberg. After this exhibit, I began to travel widely in Europe, participating in group exhibitions, projects and symposiums while meeting and discovering artists whose work had an affinity to mine.
In 1994, I participated in The Artist Museum’s Construction in Process IV, which brought together an international group of artists to work on a site in the Negev Desert, “Israel”. Three years later, I was chosen as 1 of the 5 artists in residency / competition for the Bildhauer Symposium titled “Werk 97” in Heidenheim, Germany, which was based on the collaboration of Art and Industry. For my project, I was awarded the First Prize.
Most significantly, it was during this period, the ACCU-FLO project was born out of an invitation from the artist / painter Frank Badur, who was the head of painting at the Akademie der Kunst in Berlin. The initial ACCU-FLO installation consisted of 2 wood elements painted in high Chroma fluorescent paint, suspended from a concrete column at Akademie der Kunst-Berlin, Germany 1994.
ACCU-FLO would become a 5-year project in which it was also installed at Wilhelm Hack Museum-Ludwigshafen, Germany 1995, Museum Moderner Kunst-Otterndorf, Germany 1996, Galerie Michael Sturm-Stuttgart, Germany 1997, Turm Schulhaus Stadt Galerie-Backnang, Germany 1997, Kunsthaus Baselland-Muttenz, Switzerland 1998, Dortmunder Kunstverein-Dortmund, Germany 1999. At each new venue, I re-created the works from previous installations, and added newly painted elements. This resulted in an accumulation of painted elements, which served as architectural interventions. A catalogue documenting the installation of ACCU-FLO at each venue was published in 1999.
ACCU FLO Installation 1999– Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund, Germany
Meanwhile in NY, Werner Kramarsky invited me in 1997, to exhibit a suite of large-scale paper works at The Fifth Floor Foundation at 560 Broadway in NYC. This exhibition was accompanied by the catalogue “Russell Maltz: Drawings”.
In 2004/2005, I was invited to concurrently be the Artist in Residence at The Cleveland Institute of Art and Kent State University. During this period, with the assistance of students, I executed the project Five States/Five Sites +1, which consisted of temporary public works comprised of the construction materials, which would eventually be used in the buildings of the shopping centers, which were under construction at each of the sites.
Five States Five Sites +1 DGS #17-2004 North Haven, CT. Assembled Phase in April 2004.
During that same year, I mounted a solo exhibition of recent works and a site-specific project at The McDonough Museum in Youngstown, Ohio. In Spring 2006, I installed another concrete block project on the campus of the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. In Atlanta, Georgia in 2008 I installed a temporary public work that intervened at both the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, and at a construction site downtown at Decatur and Hill Streets. All of the painted materials from these two locations were cycled into the buildings on Decatur and Hill Streets in downtown Atlanta.
In the spring of 2012, I participated in “Panorama de 31 Artistas Internacionales” an international project in Oaxaca, Mexico. For this project, I temporarily installed a large work consisting of painted industrial PVC pipes in in the central courtyard of Museo de los Pintores Oaxaquenos. After the exhibition, as with 5@5+1, the materials were used in the construction of the plumbing system in a commercial building in Oaxaca.
In Oaxaca-Painted/Stacked Oaxaca in progress at El Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños in 2012
Outside of these site-specific projects, I regularly exhibit in NY with Minus Space, Alejandra von Hartz Gallery, Miami, Gallery Wenger, Zurich, Switzerland, and in Vienna, Austria at Galerie Sturm-Schober. I have works in various private and corporate collections as well as in the collection of The Brooklyn Museum, Yale University Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museum, Kunstraum-Alexander Burkle - PEAC, Freiburg, Germany, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, Saarland Museum, Saarbrucken, Germany, Stiftung fur Konkreter Kunst, Reutlingen, Germany, Wilhelm-Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany, Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, the Museum fur Konkrete Kunst, Ingollstadt, Germany, and the Conceptual Art Foundation, Soest, Germany.
FS – Found Site Lafayette Street N.Y.C.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Minus Space, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Galerie Sturm and Schober, Vienna, Austria
2017 Minus Space, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Stadtgalerie Saarbrucken, Saarbrucken, Germany
Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart, Germany
2016 Galerie Wenger, Zurich, Switzerland
2014 Alejandra von Hartz Gallery, Miami, Florida
2012 Minus Space, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Museo de los Pintores –(MUPO), Oaxaca, Mexico
Alejandra von Hartz Gallery –Painted/Stacked Miami 2012
2011 Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart,Germany
Galleri Weinberger, Copenhagen, Denmark
21st Streetprojects, Critical Practices Inc. N.Y., N.Y.
2008 Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia
2007 Galerie Schlegl, Zurich, Switzerland
2006 The Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida
2005 Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart, Germany
The McDonough Museum, Youngstown, Ohio
Cleveland Institute of Art, Reinberger Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio
2003 Galerie Une, Neuchatel, Switzerland
2002 Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart, Germany
Kunst Punkt – St. Eberhard, Stuttgart, Germany
2001 Galerie Schlegl, Zurich, Switzerland
1999 Sarita Dubin Fine Art, Tokyo, Japan
Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund, Germany
1998 Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz, Switzerland
Heidenheim Symposium, WERK ‘97 - Heidenheim, Germany
E.S. Van Dam Gallery, N.Y., N.Y.
Gallery der Stadt Backnang-Turm Schulhaus Galerie-Backnang,Germany
Galerie Dr. Istvan Schlegl, Zurich, Switzerland
1997 Werner Kramarsky, New York, N.Y.
Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart, Germany
1996 Museum Moderner Kunst Landkreis Cuxhaven/Studio-A, Ottendorf, Germany
1995 Galerie Dr. Istvan Schlegl, Zurich, Switzerland
Ars Nova Galleri, Goteborg, Sweden
Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Ludwigshafen, Germany
1994 Galerie Walzinger, Saarlouis, Germany
Stark Gallery, New York, N.Y.
Akademie der Kunst, Berlin, Germany
1993 Ars Nova Galleri, Goteborg, Sweden
Interchurch Center, New York, N.Y.
1991 Stark Gallery, New York, N.Y.
1989 Galerie Walzinger, Saarlouis, Germany
Overbeck Gesellschaft, Lubeck, Germany
Stark Gallery, New York, N.Y.
1988 Condeso/Lawler Gallery, New York, N.Y.
1986 Condeso/Lawler Gallery, New York, N.Y.
1985 Real Art Ways, Hartford, Ct.
Der Standort, Berlin, Germany
1984 New York Experimental Glass Workshop, New York, N.Y.
Condeso/Lawler Gallery, New York, N.Y.
1983 Houston Festival-Bayou Project, Houston, Texas
1981 University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, Ca.
1980 P.S.-1, Auditorium Annex A, L.I.C., Queens, N.Y.
1979 POOL, C.W. Post College of the Arts, Greenvale, N.Y.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
Ongoing “INTERNATIONAL DISPERSION”
Ongoing “FS – FOUND SITE PROJECT”
2017 “PAINTED/STACKED – SUNBEAM SAARBRUCKEN”
Stadtgalerie Saarbrucken, Saarbrucken, Germany
2012 “BALLPARK”
Minus Space, Brookklyn, NY
“PAINTED/STACKED – SUNBEAM OAXACA”
Museo de los Pintores, Oaxaca, Mexico
2011-2013 PAINTED/STACKED-PULSE MIAMI/NEW YORK GALERIE MICHAEL STURM
Miami, Florida / New York, NY
2006-2007 SUNBEAM KRISTIANIA
Lech, Austria
2005 “SUNBEAM SPLAY”
The McDonough Museum, Youngstown, Ohio
2004 “FIVE STATES/FIVE SITES + 1”
North Haven Ct., Middletown NY. Easton Pa., Phillipsburg NJ., DerbyVt., Cleveland Oh.
1997-1999 “WERK - 97” - Bildhauersymposium Heidenheim * Catalogue
Heidenheim, Germany - 1st Prize
1994-1999 “ACCU-FLO” - An Installation of Process * Catalogue
Akademie der Kunst - Berlin, Germany 1994
Wilhelm Hack Museum - Ludwigshafen, Germany 1995
Museum Moderner Kunst - Otterndorf, Germany 1996
Galerie Michael Sturm - Stuttgart, Germany 1997
Turm Schulhaus Stadt Galerie - Backnang, Germany 1997
Kunsthaus Baselland - Muttenz, Switzerland 1998
Dortmunder Kunstverein - Dortmund, Germany 1999
1994 “CONSTRUCTION IN PROCESS IV”
The Artists Museum, Mitzpah Ramon, Israel
1978-1980 “POOL” - An Invitational - 31 solo projects
C.W. Post Center for the Arts, Greenvale, N.Y.
1976-1978 “POOL” - Five Stage Installation
C.W. Post Center for the Arts, Greenvale, N.Y. * Catalogue
SELECTED GROUP and TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS*
2022. “Near Zero” Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio*
2021 “Welcome Back America”, Multiple Art, Zurich, Switzerland
2020 “30 Days in March –Performing Authorship” P.S. 122 Project Space, NYC,NY
2019. “Maleriekonrethochdrei” Kunstmuseum Reutlingen Konkrete, Reutlingen, Germany
“Century. Idee Bauhaus” Dr. Julius – AP, Berlin Germany
2018 “Improvosations and Premeditations” Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MI.
“No Place – Like Home” GLINT, Berlin, Germany
“Blick Wechsel” Kunstraum Alexander Burkle, Freiburg, Germany
2017 “Dual Current” Inseparable Elements in Painting and Architecture
Ewing Gallery of Architecture, University of Tennesee, UT Downtown Gallery, KnoxvilleTN
The Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University
Sarah Moody Gallery, University of Alabama
2016 “Russell Maltz and Some American Friends” Multiple Art, Zurich, Switzerland
2015 “Plywood” –Russell Maltz and Melissa Kretschmer, Minus Space, Bklyn., NY *
“A Conversation with Victria Munro, The Suburban, Oak Park, Ill. *
“Same Difference” Michelle Grabner-SimoneLeigh-RussellMaltz
The Art Museum at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.
“01/15” Multiple Art, Zurich, Switzerland
2014 “Group Show” Arte-Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico
“Drawing on Habit: Difference” Studio Vendome, New York New York
“Shelf Show” Galleri Tom Chrostoffersen, Copenhagen, Denmark
“Raw Materials-Vom Baumarkt ins Museum, Stadische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany
2013 “The Assemblence of Presence” Anna Wenger Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
“Gaming” Florida International University Gallery, South Beach, Miami, Florida
“Drawing on Habit:An Ambition” The Betsy Hotel/Carlton Hotel South Beach, Miami, Florida
2012 “Minus Space in Oaxaca”- Pnaorama de 31 Artistas Internacionales Instituto de Artes Graficas de Oaxaca – Oaxaca, Mexico
“Here There and Everywhere” Minus Space, Bklyn., NY
2010 “Konkrete Idole” Museum Liner, Appenzell, Switzerland “Black and White” Galleri Weinberger, Copenhagen, Denmark
2008 “Color in 3D” The Westport Art Center, Westport, Conn.
2007 “All From America II”, Kunsthaus Alexander Burkle, Freiburg, Germany
“Modeling the Photographic”, The McDonough Museum of Art, Youngstown, Ohio
“Solos: 20th Anniversary Exhibition Part Two, Selby Gallery, Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota,Florida
2006 “Ballkunstler” Leipzig Museum, Leipzig, Germany
“Zeichnung 06” Drawings-Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart, Germany
“35 Year Anniversary Exhibition” Galerie Schlegl, Zurich, Switzerland
2005 “Dreaming of a More Better Future” Reinberger Gallery, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
“Sports” The Islip Museum, Islip, New York
2004 “Collection”-Kunstraum Alexander Burkle,Freiburg, Germany
“Into the Room”- Galerie Schlegl, Zurich, Switzerland
2003 “Works on Paper-3 New York Artists”-Galerie Schlegl, Zurich, Switzerland
2002 “Body Power / Power Play“ Wurttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart,Germany
“Precient Then and Now “: The Resonance of Supports / Surfaces Dorsky Gallery, L.I.C., N.Y.
2001 “Fifteen Years of Painting” Stark Gallery, New York, New York
“With Linen-Without Linen” Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart, Germany
“More or Less Painting” University of Connecticutt Art Gallery ,Stamford/Storrs
2000 “Maximal-Minimal” Feigen Contemporary, N.Y., N.Y.
“Farbzeit” Museum Bochum, Bochum, Germany
“Blurring the Boundries: Installation Art 1969 – 1996” San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose . Ca.
1999 “Visual Dialogues” – Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart,Germany
“Surface/Facade” - The Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, Ca. 1998
“Surface/Facade” - Work Space, New York, N.Y.
“Vibration” - Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, N.Y.
1997 “Collected in Saarlouis” - City Museum, Saarlouis, Germany
“Einblick” - Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart, Germany
“Divergent Models” - Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, Germany
1996 “Divergent Models”- Bennington, Vermont
“Konkrete Konstructiv-Works on Paper” - Museum Sankt Ingbert, Germany
1995 “Tragflache” - Museum Bochum, Bochum, Germany
“Construction in Process V” - The Artists Museum, Mitzpah Ramon, Israel
1994 “The Constructive Vocabulary” - Galerie Dr. Istvan Schlegl, Zurich, Switzerland 1993
“Artists Space Benefit” - Artists Space, New York, N.Y.
“Born in the Fifties - Galerie Walzinger, Saarlouis, Germany
1992 “7 - N.Y. “ Studio A , Otterndorf, Germany, Galerie Walzinger, Saarlouis, Germany, America House, Berlin, Germany
“Pushing Painting” - Stark Gallery, NewYork, N.Y. 1991 “Drawings” - Stark Gallery, New York, N.Y.
“Large Scale” - Stark Gallery, New York, N.Y.
“A Dialogue With Clyfford Still” - Philipe Briet Gallery, New York, N.Y. 1990
“Papier Arbeiten” - Galerie 22, Molenberg, Holland
“Anspruch” - Galerie Walzinger, Saarlouis, Germany “Group Exhibition” - Stark Gallery, New York, N.Y.
“With The Grain” - The Whitney Museum Of American Art Stamford, Ct. / Phillip Morris, NewYork, N.Y.
“Cruciform” - Stark Gallery, New York, N.Y.
1990 “Painting Between The Paradigms-Part IV” - Penine Hart Gallery, N.Y., N.Y.
1989 “Bildgrund” - Museum Ludenscheid / Museum Mulheim, Germany
“New York-New Work” - Galerie Weinberger, Copenhagen, Denmark
“Painting Between the Paradigms-Part II” - Galerie Ramel, Koln, Germany
“Dross to Art” - Islip Art Museum, Islip, N.Y.
“Out Into Space” - Condeso/Lawler Gallery, New York, N.Y.
1987 “Die Ecke” - Musee Cantonal Des Beaux Arts, Sion, Switzerland
1986 “Distances” - Chapelle St. Louis de la Salpetiere, Paris, France
“Die Ecke” - Galerie Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany
1985 “Painting As Surface And Object” - Hillwood Gallery, C.W.Post College, Greenvale, N.Y.
“Logo Simuli” - Daniel Newburg Gallery, New York, N.Y.
1985 “Invitational” - Condeso/Lawler Gallery, New York, N.Y.
“Umpires In Art” - Gallery 53, Cooperstown, N.Y.
1984 “Process Black” - L.I.U., Southhampton College, Southhampton, N.Y.
“Drawings” - The Sculpture Center, New York, N.Y.
1983 “Multiples” - Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, N.Y.
“Hundreds of Drawings” - Artists Space, New York, N.Y.
“Small Works” - Bonnier Gallery, New York, N.Y.
“Drawings” - Center for Art and Performance, Houston, Texas
“Alberti/Maltz/Mosset/Stamm” - 1708 East Main Street, Richmond, Va. Condeso/Lawler Gallery, New York, N.Y.
“A.I.R. Benefit” - A.I.R. Gallery, New York, N.Y.
1982 “Pair Group” - Art Galaxy Gallery, NewYork, NY, The Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, N.J.
1981 “55 Mercer Invitational” - 55 Mercer Gallery, NewYork, N.Y.
1980 “POOL” - Artists Space Gallery, New York, N.Y.
“POOL” - Wake Forest University, North Carolina
1979 “14 Painters” - Lehman College, Bronx, N.Y. 1978
“Detective Show” - Gorman Park, Queens, N.Y.
“New Space-New Work” - 1027 46th Ave. L.I.C., Queens, N.Y.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Yale University Art Museum, Yale, New Haven Connecticut
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Boston, Massachusetts
Kunstraum-Alexander Burkle, Freiburg, Germany
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Museum Moderner Kunst, Otterndorf, Germany
Saarland Museum, Saarbrucken, Germany
Stiftung fur Konkreter Kunst, Reutlingen, Germany
Wilhelm-Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen , Germany
Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.Y., N.Y.
The Prudential Life Insurance Company of America, Boston, Massachusetts.
Best Products Corporation, Richmond, Virginia