Set the tone

What I want to bring you in 2025 and why.

I hope you enjoy it.

Set the Tone

Ten years ago, when I asked for guidance on how to support my team during training for my first major deployment, I received a simple message: “Set the tone.”

For everyone who’s new here, my name is Russ. I’ve been a professional artist for the last five years.

Before that, I led counterinsurgency and surveillance operations in the British Army and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

Growing up broke in a small town, I saw the military as a way to pay for my art habit and my hunger to travel—an opportunity to see the world from a unique vantage point.

I’ll never forget one day, sitting in a leather-bound armchair in the office of my boss’s boss. He’d taken a risk bringing me into his unit.

He later admitted he liked “pirates and rebels,” and I fit the bill. (During training at Sandhurst, I once smuggled in a giant black pig named Napoleon as a pet and nearly got kicked out a few times.)

Despite all that, he believed in me.

This unit had been the most decorated in Afghanistan a few years earlier, and now I was taking charge of a team that had witnessed some of the harshest realities of recent conflicts.

I was young, eager to prove myself, and lacked real-world experience. We had six months to set our egos aside, come together, and build a cohesive team: fifty of the toughest soldiers in the UK and me, the newcomer tasked with keeping us from tearing each other apart.

In the first few weeks, I talked to everyone. It was intimidating—being both the new guy and the person responsible for uniting the group.

Sandhurst had prepared me somewhat, but no amount of books or practice can truly get you ready for bringing a real team together.

I was so hungry to succeed that I tried to do everything myself.

After four weeks, I was overworked, exhausted, and my wild ideas were rubbing everyone the wrong way. Fights were breaking out. I was losing control.

Desperate for help, I went to see the one man who believed in me.

He sat across from me in that room full of medals, trinkets, and silverware—mementos from a lifetime of deep-end missions.

“What do you want to know?” he asked.

“I’m doing everything I was told,” I replied, “but I’m struggling to figure out what’s most important. What should I focus on?”

“The job is easy,” he said. “Leadership is just about taking the hits… all you have to do is set the tone.”

That idea stuck with me. Everyone is a leader in some part of their life.

We each have a space where we’re supposed to be our best, and if we do it well enough, others will follow.

Fast-forward to last year, when I came back to London.

I wanted to bring the spirit of collaboration, dreams, and success that I’d seen in other art markets around the world.

I remember one of my first events here: a board of emerging artists, led by someone trying to pull them all together—but the narrative was off.

Their plan was to come to London, make it, then leave. International and brilliant, but never caring about what stayed behind. In cities like Miami, Berkeley, or New York, that kind of mindset wouldn’t fly.

So here’s my plan: I want to find the 100 emerging artists who are committed to building a new creative world for London.

Looking around at our culture and its providers, we’re all struggling.

My friends in London and across the UK are saying the same thing: it’s getting too expensive, the fun is gone, and all we do is work.

To me, the role of the artist is simple: show people what they can’t see. 

I think we’ve forgotten how powerful we can be if we move forward together.

Over the next six months, I’m assembling a team of artists who I believe can change our world—starting here in London and expanding outward.

I believe art is freedom.

That’s a battle worth fighting for.

The more we can express ourselves—knowing what we love and what we don’t—the more we can enjoy this short blip we call life.

If we do our work well, a generation will follow in our footsteps, see what we’ve accomplished, and know exactly how to carry it forward.

Time to set the tone.

What I’m Learning

I’ve been exploring how platforms and formats drive social movements in the arts and other fields.

I’ll be expanding the “Hot Girls Like Art” newsletter over the coming year in some ways that I hope benefit you directly

Three Ways Artists Contribute

Creating Art

At the most fundamental level, artists contribute through their work.

Anyone can see how skillfully they paint or create—it’s subjective, but also somewhat measurable by the care and dedication poured into each piece.

This is the baseline standard for artists: to refine their craft and share it with the world.

Building a Platform

Going beyond individual creation, some artists build platforms that help those around them.

It’s about growing a garden instead of a single flower—helping more people reach audiences, share resources, and collaborate.

A “platform” can be a physical venue or publication, but it can also be an abstract concept or a new toolset that lifts everyone up.

Inventing a New Format

The most influential artists of all time do more than create art or platforms; they pioneer entirely new formats.

They fix something broken or give others a tool or voice they couldn’t otherwise access. We’ve seen this recently with NFTs in 2022, AI art, and even social media (from Bebo and MySpace to today).

These innovations redefine what’s possible.

Why This Matters

I believe in the physical manifestation of art.

Digital spaces are incredible—they give us the connection we’re sharing right now—but I want more.

I want to bring art to you at little or no cost, relying on the support of those who truly want something special to help me recoup expenses.

It’s a risk, but I love the idea that anyone can have my work for free.

If it resonates enough, there will be those who help sustain it.

I hope you’re in for the adventure. Let’s see what we can create—together.

What I’m Building

Incorporating Art, Practice, and Community

I’m on a mission to bring together the most impressive artists in London and beyond, tying in everything I’ve learned so far and everything I’m discovering in real time.

And I’m doing it all without a budget—at least, not a conventional one.

Like most of us, I’ve dealt with the problem of lacking capital. As a kid, I couldn’t afford materials; as an adult, the challenge is still there.

I don’t just want to solve this money barrier for myself—I want to leave a blueprint for future generations of artists, so they can shape their lives, their friends’ lives, and the world around them without being held back by finances.

High-Quality Merchandise as a Funding Model

I’ll be funding these projects with what I consider some of the most carefully designed, high-quality merchandise you can find.

I’ve teamed up with factories that typically only work with luxury brands like Balenciaga, Vuitton, and Dior. We’re talking:

• Hoodies & Tees from the same factories as Balenciaga and Vuitton

• Bags crafted by the same factory that supplies Christian Dior

• Handmade Teddy Bears by the same people who outfit the West End

Each product line has been in development for over six months. If quality is a priority for you, I’m confident I won’t let you down.

Whether you like the designs or not is up to you, but I know one thing for sure: no one else is making anything like this.

Collaboration

We’ll be expanding our collaborative work over the next few months, so expect a new wave of poets in Poets Corner and fresh content on my social channels.

If you’d like to get involved or help with any of these projects, just hit reply—I’d love to chat.

Studio Visits

I’ve just reached my 50th studio visit, and I’m inviting even more people in—I’m aiming for 100 more by April.

If you’re planning a visit to London (and on this list), I’d love to show you and your friends around.

To book a visit, just WhatsApp Flick on +44 203 633 3336. She’ll arrange a time for us to meet.

Final words

If you’re building something right now—or even just thinking about how to create something that grants you the freedom you deserve—I hope these next few months give you the energy you need to make it happen.

I love you loads,

R