Alexander Ross Exhibition

Miles McEnery Gallery (520 W 21st St.)

[Image: Alexander Ross "Untitled" (2022) Oil on canvas 44 x 53 in.]

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Miles McEnery Gallery presents an exhibition of paintings by Alexander Ross. The artist’s inaugural solo exhibition at the gallery will open on 8 September at 520 West 21st Street and remain on view through 15 October 2022. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue featuring an essay by Philomena Epps.

Ross has been exhibiting his paintings and drawings throughout the United States and Europe for over twenty-five years. Best known for creating mysterious imagery based on organic processes, Ross’s works are informed by petri dishes—where various elements might grow, decay, and reproduce.

The artist’s masterly approach to the uncanny and biomorphic is steeped in surrealist tradition, where enigmatic landscapes and forms repeatedly defy a simple categorization. He predominantly uses various hues of green to reference both plant life and the artificial, often seen in contrast to blues and reds. The works are a bridge between abstract and photorealistic; his compelling application of shadow and texture interact with color and form to create images with a deep dimensionality.

Epps explains, “By constantly rupturing and dissolving our conventional interpretation of shapes and colors, Ross perceives his painterly practice as a form of depictive abstraction. Captivated by both figurative and abstracted approaches to the medium, he has cited Giorgio Morandi and Max Ernst as two of his favorite painters. He sportively encourages us to undergo an experience of spectatorial confusion; the closer and longer you might focus on an image, the less you might understand it. Like the rotations of a kaleidoscope, the patterns continually mutate, seducing us with their boundless perplexity.”

Alexander Ross (b. 1960 in Denver, CO) received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA.

Ross’ work has most recently been the subject of solo exhibitions at Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; Fiendish Plots, Lincoln, NE; LABspace, Hilldale, NY; David Nolan Gallery, New York, NY; Galerie Hussenot, Paris, France; Nolan Judin, Berlin, Germany; New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY; Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY; and the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA.

The artist has been included in group exhibitions at numerous international institutions such as The American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Garden, Lincoln, MA; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY; Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; Institute of Contemporary Art, Valencia, Spain; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY; P.S.1. Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, among others.

His work may be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; The British Museum, London, United Kingdom; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Hallmark Art Collection, Kansas City, MO; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO; Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; and the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA.

He is the recipient of awards including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant; Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant; New York Foundation for the Arts Painting Fellowship; Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award; and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.

Ross lives and works in Great Barrington, MA.