Alexander Ross “Recent Terrestrials”
David Nolan Gallery
This event has ended.
David Nolan Gallery presents Recent Terrestrials, an exhibition of new work by Alexander Ross. This is Ross’s third solo show with the gallery. Bringing together a series of large-scale paintings and a group of smaller drawings, the exhibition signifies a variety of recent formal and thematic innovations for the artist.
Ross is best known for his biomorphic imagery, wherein modeled forms suggest molecular ecosystems as viewed through a microscope, or surreal landscapes inspired by Max Ernst. In recent years, the artist has developed a distinctive color palette that includes occasional flashes of red and yellow emerging within multiple shades of green. Ross’s characteristic handling of paint – through which shapes are given dimensionality in incremental bands of shading – might suggest a photorealistic endeavor. However, viewed as a whole, his compositions can be understood more accurately as abstractions, where the interplay of color and form, highlight and shadow become the focus.
With Recent Terrestrials, Ross redirects his emphasis toward imagery recalling “grotesques”, a style of architectural ornament found throughout Europe that incorporates ugly or playfully contorted faces. These sneering faces also have a political dimension, conveying the artist’s restlessness in response to what he perceives to be disquieting geological and social changes in civil life.
Another group of paintings finds the artist un-mounted from his established vantage point, in which a clear blue sky serves as a neutral backdrop. Radically shifting this familiar perspective, a number of Ross’s new works comprise intricately worked lattices or cellular matrices, appearing both luminous and translucent. In an alternative reading, these can also be seen as cross-sections of the earth where unusual concave forms suggest subterranean excavations.
Media
Schedule
from October 30, 2014 to December 06, 2014
Opening Reception on 2014-10-30 from 18:00 to 20:00