Press Releases
Ruthie Tucker, Amsterdam Whitney, International Fine Art, Inc., Chelsea, NY
Henri Matisse once proclaimed that, "The chief function of color should be to serve expression." Utilizing vivacious color in such an emotive manner, Contemporary Canadian artist Seonaid Ross creates inspiring landscapes that swell with passion, movement and luminosity. Painting luscious scenes of the Italian countryside, Ms. Ross beckons her audience to join her on a joyful visual holiday through the ravishing region.
Following the Impressionist tradition Ms. Ross illustrates the essence of nature, not by painting a scene with photographic accuracy, rather by portraying how an individual perceives it. Ms. Ross depicts idyllic pastoral vistas featuring architectural details like that of a historic cathedral set against a clear blue sky, surrounded by lush verdure. Through her swirling impasto brushstrokes, Ms. Ross brilliantly conveys the illusion of motion and captures evanescent elements, like the wind blowing through a poppy field and golden sunshine illuminating ancient ruins. Her vibrant colors, including emerald green, crisp cyan and cherry red, virtually spring from the canvas to draw the viewer into the scene.
Although she depicts scenes from the natural world, Ms. Ross infuses her rustic subject matter with her individual joie de vivre, thus elevating the agrarian landscapes into portals of spiritual rejuvenation. Ms. Ross’ enchanting artwork resonates deep within the psyche, causing one to recall those instances when nature appears so beautiful that it seems impossible that the image is not an illusion. Her images conjure these moments of quiet reflection, the times when one stops to admire the splendors of the earth.
Seonaid Ross' artwork has been featured in exhibitions throughout her native Toronto. Her paintings are held in numerous corporate and private collections. Amsterdam Whitney Gallery is delighted to shine the spotlight on her glorious art.
Agora Gallery, New York, NY
http://www.agora-gallery.com/artistpage/Seonaid_Ross.aspx
Her subject a classic vision of landscape, Canadian artist Seonaid Ross creates works which enchant with their thick, sumptuous painterly texture. Bright, illuminated tones become softly abstract shapes, formulating a magical view of Italian villas, countryside and cityscapes. The artist's brushwork is alive with a whimsical sense of intrigue and while her themes are familiar, these renderings in a bold, sensuously Impressionist style are poignantly fresh, soulfully vivacious. Italy is Ross's muse, its color, textures, flavors and culture all palpable in her dreamlike, romantic interpretations. "Every painting tells a story about the wonders of nature, the gifts of mankind throughout the ages, the slower rhythms of life and the moments frozen in time," she explains. Indeed, the narrative of these paintings depends on the viewer, each work conjuring a memory of a past moment in our consciousness, sparking a feeling of ease and acquaintance, but also a delightful desire to know more.
Largely self-taught, Seonaid Ross has studied painting in Italy, Hawaii and Toronto. She lives and works in Canada and her paintings are in international private and public collections.
CJ MacLeod, Toronto, Canada
For Canadian artist Seonaid Ross, the creation of her colorful expressionistic landscapes is a journey of personal discovery. Inspired by both European and Canadian Impressionist works, Ross creates brilliantly colorful, lively depictions of familiar places, rich with light, texture, and form. Her masterful use of the brushstroke lends a strong sense of movement to each piece, evoking the full experience of place for the viewer. Through her art, Ross is able to re-create her vivid experience, so that her "subjects move through memory to the canvas by the way of the heart."
In Ross's paintings, iconic images such as cypresses, gondolas, cityscapes and wildflowers are infused with new life, reflecting layers of emotive expression and meaning. Colors, textures and compositions are juxtaposed in unexpected ways, resulting in terrains that while familiar are simultaneous otherworldly, where the viewer comes to expect the unexpected and find new meanings in recognizable forms.
Although Ross focuses mainly on landscape in her paintings, even in their absence people play a profound role in the overall tableau. Within each image is embedded a strong sense of relationship between people and place, as the viewer is invited not only to experience the artist's relationship with the land and cityscapes but to cultivate their own connection to the subject matter as well.
For Ross, painting involves all the senses, and this multisensory focus comes through in her work. Indeed the viewer is immediately pulled into a deep sense of place, where one can feel the breeze, hear the gentle lap of water, smell the flowers, and absorb the heat of the sun. As Ross explains, "every painting tells a story about the wonders of nature, the gifts of mankind throughout the ages, the slower rhythms of life and the moments frozen in time. The experience of developing a landscape is one of joy, delight, learning and freedom."