Twist
Howard Russo | Steel | 2016
Twist is a sphere measuring 63 inches in diameter, fabricated from steel. Square-profile steel rods are cut, bent, and welded into place. The exterior is left untreated, allowing a natural patina of rust to develop over time. Russo's imagery is driven by the spherical form and its repetition in nature. A balance between positive and negative space is central to the work — giving it a sense of volume without mass and leaving room for interpretation and imagination. The work is on loan for a two-year period.
About the Artist
Howard Russo is a resident of St. Charles, Illinois, and Professor Emeritus at Elgin
Community College, where he taught ceramics, glass, jewelry, sculpture, and 3-D design
for over thirty years. He earned both his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine
Arts in Jewelry and Metalsmithing from Northern Illinois University.
During the 1980s, Russo became interested in nuclear disarmament and began considering the afterlife of decommissioned missiles — an inquiry that grew into an ongoing exploration of rocket forms appearing across multiple media, including jewelry, clay, wood, and large-scale sculpture. Combined with his continued interest in spherical forms, these elements often evolve into shapes that suggest spacecraft or UFO-like objects. His glass and steel series combines fused and slumped glass with found, weathered tools.
Russo's work has been exhibited at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago and in public spaces throughout the Midwest and Southeast, including the Dogwood Arts Art in Public Places Sculpture Exhibition in Knoxville, Tennessee, the Skokie North Shore Sculpture Park, and the Chicago Sculpture International Biennial.
