Russell recalls that his interest in Murihiku Maori culture began before he chose a museum career in his mid-twenties, and that it has strengthened throughout his life. Maori stories and abstract design - particularly that of anchor stones - often inform his stone carving. But there is also a pared back elemental, organic simplicity that puts you in mind of the work of the great Romanian/French sculptor Constantin Brancusi. So it is too with the beautifully simple, curvaceous pieces modelled on fish, bird and other animal forms; seemingly abstract sculptures that beg to be touched, nestle in the viewers hands, but still convey the essence of the animal. Quite recently he has taken to casting from these forms in stainless steel and ppolishing them them to a mirror like surface. Whether hard hyper-polished stainless steel or satin-honed stone, these are immensely sensual, tactile pieces.
Extract from; T.L. Rodney Wilson, Forces of the Land catalogue. 2009.