Russell Frantom (born October 18, 1991) is an American visual artist based in

South Bend South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

and Chicago, Illinois. Frantom first gained notoriety and national attention when in 2008, he was arrested and charged with conspiring to form an attack on his then high school

Penn High School Penn High School is a public high school located in Mishawaka, Indiana, United States, near South Bend. It is the only high school in the Penn-Harris-Madison (PHM) School Corporation. The district includes all of Osceola and portions of Gr ...

involving an accomplice located in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Frantom was only sixteen at the time. Frantom has gained success regionally as an artist, and has been responsible for creating large art events in his hometown of

. Frantom describes himself as an

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and completes all of his

paintings Painting is a visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or " support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush. Other implements, ...

within hours.

Conspiracy and arrest

On April 22, 2008, Frantom was arrested after a school resource officer at

became aware of strange social media posts. The investigation uncovered threatening conversations between Frantom and an

man by the name of Lee Billi. Frantom was charged with

conspiracy to commit murder Conspiracy to murder is a statutory offence defined by the intent to commit murder. England and Wales The offence of conspiracy to murder was created in statutory law by section 4 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and retained as an ...

and several illegal and

venomous Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

rattlesnakes were removed from his home, along with hundreds of swords and knives.

Art and life

Frantom's art pieces are often very colorful, raw, and sometimes minimal. His most often used medium is

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

. He frequently paints self-portraits and animals.

References

External links

Raw ArtArt ListingArt EventMahalo ArticleGoodwill PaintingThe Smoking Gun
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frantom, Russell 1991 births Living people Painters from Indiana American Expressionist painters People from South Bend, Indiana

Conspiracy and arrest

Art and life

See also

References

External links