JK Russ, $NAKE BITE KI$$, 1-24 May 2014

New Zealand-born, Las Vegas-based artist JK Russ will open her first solo exhibition with Gisborne gallery, PAULNACHE on Thursday 1 May at 6:00PM. The artist will be in attendance for the opening.

When creating her collage works, JK Russ utilizes a traditional hand-assembled cut-and-paste technique to reflect and subvert contemporary ideals of female agency and sexuality. In a similar fashion to the European Dada artists of the early twentieth century, Russ has adopted the medium of collage as a political tool to re-contextualize found imagery. Her female subjects have been described as "strong, sexy and alien" in scenes combining erotic imagery, desert terrain and pop culture.

Since graduating from MIT Faculty of Creative Arts in Auckland with a BVA in 2001, Russ has exhibited widely and is also represented by galleries in Australia and the United States. In 2007 she won the Open Award in the Whanganui Art Review, and in 2010 relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, where she has been nominated “Best Art Import” by Las Vegas Seven magazine. She is also a featured artist and blogger with the Huffington Post.