ROSS – SULTANA
In Sally Ross’ fourth solo exhibition at Galerie Sultana, the artist continues to explore the fertile, imaginative potential of conventional painting genres and the picturesque.
From her dormant source material of old and forgotten books and archives, Ross translates and transforms pastoral scenes, portrait or animal studies into works that are obsessively filled with intricate, painterly detail, a curious mass of greens and endless marks on the canvas. Ross finds fresh resonance and pleasure in renewing our acquaintance with pastoral and archetypal imagery – shifting between the graphic and the painterly, the works echo a diverse range of influences from Picabia to Henri Rousseau, from early Flemish Landscapes to the oak trees of Rodney Graham. Beyond nostalgia, her works re-activate the imaginative possibilities of an old photograph, deriving a fertile visual presence from the seemingly uncomplicated task of transforming photograph to painted image.
Sally Ross’ work is represented in public and private collections throughout Australia, the United States and Europe.