Alicia Ross | Artist

News

2012-01-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

Untitled (The Purse)
48h x 40w inches, cross-stitch
on cotton and pearled
basting needles, 2011

Some of my work is available for purchase online

NEW LARK BOOKS PUBLICATION: A new publication featuring the work of 30 embroidery/stitch artists from around the world: PUSH Stitchery: 30 Artists Explore the Boundaries of Stitched Art. Alicia's work represents fiber work made in the United States. Order on Amazon.

New Publication: Textiel Plus, "Op vrouwen voortborduren." Pages 5-7. Nummer 218, Winter 2011. (shown right)

Recent

Huffington Post, November 8, 2011. Push Stitchery. (shown right)

The Guardian UK: "Edgy Embroidery - in pictures," Nov 5, 2011. (shown below)

Pulse Los Angeles, Sept 29-Oct 3, Represented by Black and White Gallery, NYC

Pulse NYC, March 3-6, Represented by Black and White Gallery, NYC

The New York Observer, "Williamsburg Grows Up", By Alexandra Peers

Fiber Arts Magazine, "Iconography of the Self" by Jamie Chalmers

Basic Instinct, Black and White Gallery, NYC / Flander's Gallery, Raleigh, NC

Hot Mess was awarded New York Magazine's Critics' Pick. ONLINE FEATURE: New York Magazine (Online), Vulture Section, "Art Candy: The Tabloids’ Favorite Females, Embroidered," 10/29/10

Huffington Post--Hot Mess was one of the "Nine Best Things To Do in NYC This Weekend" 11/10/10

WG News + Arts, November 18, 2010

Culture Map Houston via Miami Messenger: "Brooklyn's Black and White gallery stole the show at Pulse with the work of Alicia Ross."

INTERVIEW: "FOUR QUESTIONS WITH ALICIA ROSS" Alicia had the pleasure of being interviewed by Art:21's guest blogger, Maria Stenina.

Slideshow Sampler

2011-09-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

Created for Slideluck Potshow
Los Angeles/Berlin
2010

Hot Mess

2011-09-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

Black and White Gallery
Williamsburg, NYC
2010

Sacred_Profane

2011-09-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

Black and White Gallery
Chelsea, NYC

2008

Catalog (.pdf)

Untitled (The Purse)

2011-09-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

48h x 40w in
cross-stitch on cotton
and pearled basting needles
2011

Love Swing

2011-09-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

82 in tall x 68 in wide
yarn, ribbon, nylon, metal, thread, perfume
2006

Love Swing is a piece that speaks to the wavering stability between woman as nurturer and woman as object of sexual desire. The 82 inch tall by 68 inch wide swing is covered in knitted yarn and fitted over a prefabricated sex-swing stand. The inner hanging swing has no core, prefabricated framework but was designed based on images of manufactured sex-swings. I chose a cream colored fiber to play off the idea of innocence which is typically unassociated with the sex industry. At first glance, the viewer might mistake the structure for a baby swing, rather than a sex swing. The hanging swing is slightly separated by clear thread to give it the appearance of form. The entire project took 3 months to create and approximately 30 skeins of yarn.

Sampler Series

2011-09-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

(select pieces shown)
cross-stitch on cotton
11 x 14 in
2006-

Blanket Series

2011-09-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

Needleplay
approx 4 x 5 ft
cotton appliqué quilt
2005

Safecall
approx 4 x 5 ft
cotton appliqué quilt
2005

Switch
approx 4 x 5 ft
cotton appliqué quilt
2005

Groom's Quilt
Approx. 6 x 9 ft.
cotton fabrics with cross-stitch inlays
2006

The Origin of the World (Britney)

2011-09-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

The Origin of the World (Britney)
inkjet on canvas, gold frame
34.5 x 31 in.
First version 2008, Second version 2010

The Origin of the World (Britney), is an appropriation of Gustave Courbet’s 1866 painting by the same name (L’Origine du monde). The image, a remediation of a paparazzi’s capture of Britney Spear’s crotch, has been printed on canvas—which suggests that by altering the output of the original snapshot, it somehow raises the validity of the image—and further nodding to the historical inferiority complex of photography to painting. Moreover, the gold, gilded frame reiterates the elevation to highbrow art—in both Courbet’s painting as well as my own.

With one-hundred and fifty years between them, both Courbet’s painting and Britney’s contemporary image proved to jolt their respective cultures and likewise were commissions by a second party. The two images assault the viewer unapologetically—with identical subject matter, solely dependent on its context for cultural reaction and reverence. Courbet’s title is a testament to the on-going paradoxical concept that all innocent, human life emerges from this portal, which remains potentially offensive when depicted in paint or pixels.

Around 2007, a growing trend arose within the celebrity pop-queen (formally pop-princess) demographic: flashing their genitals as a rite of passage as a “fuck you” to the media. Though swept under the rug (no pun intended) as accidentals by the subjects, ET-type television shows agreed that this must be the premeditated actions of attention-hungry “celeb-pops.” The third-wave movement, specifically the concept of regaining control over derogatory portrayals of the female body through mimicry and performance, could be influencing such behavior, or perhaps driving it. I believe this correlation to feminist theory, as well as the mother/mistress conflict manifesting itself in several of the mainstream celeb-pops, to be what inspired The Origin of the World (Britney).

Prick (Un petit somme d'Après-midi)

2011-09-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

11h x 11w x 4d in
mixed media
2008

Rockwell's a Surrealist

2011-09-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

mixed media installation (handmade pillows and children size chairs)
2008

Phrenology Study of Miley Cyrus

2011-09-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2010

Phrenology Study of Debra Lafave

2011-09-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2009

Phrenology Study of Britney Spears

2011-09-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in
cross-stitch on cotton
2009

Phrenology Study of Britney Spears

2011-09-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in
cross-stitch on cotton and pearled basting needles
2009

Phrenology Study of Foxy Knoxy/Angel Face (Amanda Knox)

2011-09-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
cross-stitch on cotton
11 x 14 oval
2009

Phrenology Study of Nancy Grace

2011-09-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2009

Phrenology Study of Misty Croslin

2011-09-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2010

Octumom (Phrenology Study of Nadya Suleman)

2011-09-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2009

Tot Mom (Phrenology Study of Casey Anthony)

2011-09-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2009

Phrenology Study of Kendra Wilkinson

2011-09-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2010

Phrenology Study of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Lady Gaga)

2011-09-02T12:03:00.001-07:00

Phrenology Studies
cross-stitch on cotton
11 x 14 oval
2010

Phrenology Study of Lindsay Lohan

2011-09-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2010

Phrenology Study of Kate Gosselin

2011-09-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2009

Phrenology Study of Mackenzie Phillips

2011-09-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2010

Phrenology Study of Jenna Jameson

2011-09-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2009

Phrenology Study of Michelle Duggar

2011-09-02T11:58:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
11 x 14 in oval
cross-stitch on cotton
2009

Phrenology Study of Anna Nicole Smith

2011-09-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies
cross-stitch on cotton
11 x 14 in ovals
2009

Phrenology Studies

2011-09-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Studies

cross-stitch on cotton

11 x 14 in ovals

Nineteenth century phrenology followers referred to a two-dimensional map outlining the sections of the human head that drew correlations between the shape of one’s skull and specific mental faculties. This diagram of the head as well as the basic theory of phrenology—“reading” the surface of the head to determine personality, morality or character—is what inspired the aesthetic and concept of this series. Photographs are appropriated from online news sources depicting various celebrity women and digitally translated into cross-stitched head studies. This process of remediation and abstraction creates a cyborg-esque representation, and comments on the public dissection of female roles by the media and society at large. The juxtaposition of such media-made celebrities blurs the distinction between praiseworthy figures and unworthy role model.

The women depicted in the Phrenology Studies series raise questions about motherhood, fertility and morality as well as the portrayal of their stories by the media. One image in the series depicts the image of Casey Anthony, coined “Tot Mom” by the media, who stood trial for the brutal murder of her three-year-old daughter, while the image of Nadya Suleman or “Octomom”is accompanied by the digitized likenesses of her eight newborns, made possible by modern advances in in vitro fertilization. “Tot Mom” and “Octumom” stare at one another as polar maternal opposites who receive equally obsessive attention by popular culture. With reference to historical ties between photography and science, the tendency to associate physical appearance with individual personality, and the abstraction from digital photograph to embroidery, the Phrenology Studies point to traditional expectations and modern-day characteristics ascribed to motherhood, womanhood and celebrity.

Philosophy Devouring Uranus

2011-09-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

cross-stitch on cotton
27 in diameter
2009

Motherboard_4 (Assimilate)

2011-09-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

cross-stitch on cotton
10L x 3.5H ft
2007

Motherboard_3

2011-09-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

30 x 56 inches
cross-stitch on cotton
2007

Motherboard_1 (Struggle)

2011-09-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

32 x 56 inches framed
cross-stitch on cotton
2007

Motherboard_2 (Pinned)

2011-09-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

cross-stitch on cotton
30 x 42 in
2007

Untitled (Expecting Marilyn)

2011-09-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

cross-stitch on cotton
23 x 32 in
2008

Motherboard_6 (A Chicken Waits for a Good Cock)

2011-09-01T18:05:00.001-07:00

cross-stitch on cotton
72 x 41 in
2008

Motherboard_8

2011-09-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

cross-stitch on cotton & nylon cord
36 x 70 in
2008

Motherboard_5 (The Siren)

2011-09-01T18:03:00.001-07:00

cross-stitch on cotton
36 x 51 in
2008

Motherboard_7 (Sacred_Profane)

2011-09-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

cross-stitch on cotton & pearled needles
40 x 90 in
2008

Motherboard_11 (Down Boy)

2011-09-01T18:01:00.000-07:00

54 x 50 in
cross-stitch on polyester
2010

Motherboard_12 (Drawn & Quartered)

2011-09-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

cross-stitch on cotton & pearled basting needles
52 x 94 in
2011

Motherboard Series

2011-09-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

The Motherboard Series is an extension of my earlier Sampler Series. While the concepts of these two series are directly connected (the female conflict of the domestic woman vs. the woman of sexual desire), the execution has been taken one step further in scale and narrative.

Within my series of Motherboards, the line has been distorted between the types of websites that housed the original content. Though some of the figures were remediated from pornography sites, others were appropriated from sites that display famous works of art and fashion websites. By blurring the line between these female icons the viewer is invited to distinguish between them without context.

Once downloaded from the Internet, the image is digitally removed from its original surroundings. The image is then put through a series of digital alterations—translating the pixels into stitch. Jump-stitches left intact make the figures appear bound by the very medium that enables the figures' visual existence.

Using mechanical stitching as a drawing utensil, I make choices of where I want the stitches to exist—often eliminating stitches from areas or only stitching the outline of a color. Because of their size, each Motherboard takes anywhere from 1-3 months to design and sew. Many times several versions of a piece will be sewn before the work is completed. The digital aesthetic, that quite literally resembles a computer’s motherboard, juxtaposed with the hand-made associations of embroidery, speaks to the joining together of human and machine—fabricated domesticity.

Thank God for Science (Octomom Phrenology Study)

2011-09-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

40 x 40 inches
cross-stitch on cotton
2010

Ishihara Test Series | Video 5

2011-09-01T08:34:00.001-07:00

single-channel video loop
2006-07
1 2 3 4 5 6

quality compromised for web

Ishihara Test Series | Video 6

2011-09-01T08:34:00.000-07:00

single-channel video loop
2006-07
1 2 3 4 5 6

quality compromised for web

Ishihara Test Series | Video 4

2011-09-01T08:33:00.001-07:00

single-channel video loop
2006-07
1 2 3 4 5 6

quality compromised for web

Ishihara Test Series | Video 3

2011-09-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

single-channel video loop
2006-07
1 2 3 4 5 6

quality compromised for web

Ishihara Test Series | Video 2

2011-09-01T08:32:00.001-07:00

single-channel video loop
2006-07
1 2 3 4 5 6

quality compromised for web

Ishihara Test Series | Video 1

2011-09-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

single-channel video loop
2006-07
1 2 3 4 5 6

quality compromised for web

Sound | Moth

2011-08-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

words / mixing by Alicia Ross | accompanying sound by Jeff Demo
2007

Moth by Alicia Ross

Sound | A Chicken Waits (I am no poet)

2011-08-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

words / mixing by Alicia Ross | accompanying sound by Jeff Demo
2007

A chicken waits (I am no poet) by Alicia Ross

Ishihara Test Series | Stills

2011-08-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

approx 58 x 80 in
ink jet on vinyl
2004-06

Taut

2011-08-04T08:34:00.000-07:00

performance with yarn
2006

Fiber Arts Magazine's Summer Issue 2011

2011-06-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

My work (Alicia Ross) is included in the Fiber Arts Magazine's Summer Issue 2011 / Article: "Iconography of the Self" by Jamie "Mr X" Chalmers--Photography can quickly capture a likeness with ease, but many artists prefer taking the time and care to explore textile portraiture’s untapped potential. (On a sad note, this is the final issue of Fiber Arts Magazine.)

Buy Issue Here: http://goo.gl/61IZA

Alicia Ross "Motherboard_12 (Drawn & Quartered)" 52 x 94 inches embroidery on cotton, 2011

2011-04-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

ARTINFO ARTICLE / PULSE NY 2011

2011-03-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

"At Brooklyn's Black & White Gallery, director Tatyana Okshteyn said that she was interested in "how artists organize and process information," and it certainly showed in the selection of works she brought to the fair. "Spanish-American War/Iraq War" a huge red banner by A.J. Bocchino, was made up of hundreds of actual headlines from the New York Times during both conflicts and was priced at $9,000. The gallery also showed intriguing portraits by Alicia Ross of Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, and other celebs for $3,800 apiece. Ross uses pixellated digital images from the internet and adds needlepoint work on top of them, merging new and old technologies."

Full Article

Basic Instinct, at Black & White Project Space in Williamsburg

2010-12-17T18:18:00.000-08:00

For Basic Instinct, guest curator Sasha Okshteyn has gathered a five-pack of compelling lady artistes to tear apart notions of gender identity. Included in the show are Colette, an artist known for her dreamy immersive environments, the Guatemalan video-performance artist Jessica Lagunas, Japanese installationist Natsu, plucky stitcher Alicia Ross and the highly acerbic Vadis Turner (check out her tampon cake sculpture). It’s enough to make a girl want to pump the Helen Reddy and sing into a hairbrush. In other words: Sign. Me. Up. Opens Friday at 6 P.M., in Williamsburg.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/25f99vw

The New York Observer / "Williamsburg Grows Up"

2010-12-15T22:03:00.001-08:00

Williamsburg Grows Up | The New York Observer

Black & White Gallery

483 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn, New York

Through Jan. 23, 2011

Black & White Gallery is only eight years old, but that's a generation in Brooklyn gallery years. Moreover, it's loyal to its roots. Originally based in Brooklyn, then opening also in Manhattan, the gallery closed its Chelsea space in April 2010 and is back home on Driggs Avenue. Founding director Tatyana Okshteyn is still there, too. The gallery has a group show opening this weekend that features Colette, Alicia Ross and Natsu, among others.

- Alexandra Peers

Exhibition Video / Hot Mess / Brooklyn, NYC 2010

2010-12-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

HUFFINGTON POST RECOMMENDED--Hot Mess is one of the "Nine Best Things To Do in NYC This Weekend"

2010-11-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

HUFFINGTON POST RECOMMENDED--
Hot Mess is one of the "Nine Best Things To Do in NYC This Weekend"!

http://tinyurl.com/28pr2zb

________________________________________________

Britney's Crotch Finally Gets Some Attention

2010-11-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

Click to Enlarge Image
WG News + Arts, November 18, 2010

Hot Mess: Press

2010-10-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

HOT MESS on display NOW until Nov 21st in Brooklyn, NYC. Named New York Magazine's
CRITICS' PICK.

The Phrenology Studies series is featured on New York Magazine's website: http://tinyurl.com/2fyxfem

***********************************************************

PRESS RELEASE: Hot Mess @ Black & White Gallery, Brooklyn, NYC

2010-09-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

Alicia Ross :: Hot Mess

October 22 - November 21, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday, October 22, 6-9pm

Black & White Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (Map) is proud to present Hot Mess by Alicia Ross, the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery.

In Hot Mess, Alicia Ross explores the mechanism of the consensual production of symbolic values. She passionately tackles difficult subject matter and taboos within society and presents them as naked truth. The works’ often provocative appearances highlight the artist's ongoing exploration of ideas surrounding conflicting views of feminine identity in the contemporary society and the ubiquitous virtuous/voracious societal impulses towards the female form. Ross appropriates images from online media sources and digitally translates them into cross-stitched constructions, using the sewing machine as a drawing tool. The finished pieces reflect a fusion between hand-made traditions and digital aesthetics.

The exhibition centers around the series Phrenology Studies (2010), 2010, a group of 14 abstracted cross-stitched head studies of media-made female celebrities. The series was inspired by the basic theory and aesthetics of the debunked pseudoscience of phrenology which associated the shape and look of one's skull with the person's moral character —“reading” the surface of the head to determine personality, morality or character and illustrating with a map of the head. All portraits are appropriated from online news sources depicting various celebrity women. These women, many household names, reflect society's finicky praise of some who seemingly stray from societal norms while condemning others for similar behavior. Juxtapositions astutely point out these inconsistencies like the Octomom, Michelle Duggar and Kate Gosselin. Moreover, several head studies embody the madonna/whore conflict, which has been so prevalent in other works by Ross. The exhibition also includes other works, such as Motherboard_11 (Down Boy) (2010), Philosophy Devouring Uranus, (2009) and Motherboard_8 (2008) with some of the figures remediated from pornography sites, others appropriated from sites that display famous works of art and fashion websites.

Over the last decade, Alicia Ross has been focusing her artistic practice on questioning the public dissection of female roles by the media and society at large. Her work has evolved to encompass various facets of female identity using photography, fiber, video, and installation. Raised in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Ross now splits her time between Ohio and Texas after receiving her MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology. Ross's solo exhibition Sacred_Profane debuted at Black & White Gallery in 2008, receiving New York Magazine's Critics' Pick and favorable reviews in Flash Art Magazine and Village Voice. Most recently, an interview with Ross was featured on the blog of the PBS Documentary Series Art:21.

For more information and to request images, contact the gallery: info@blackandwhiteartgallery.com

BOOK JUST RELEASED!!

2010-08-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

BOOK JUST RELEASED!!
**FREE SHIPPING until Aug. 31st**

This self-titled book is the first comprehensive, chronological portfolio published of Alicia Ross's artwork. There are 100 color, 7 x 7 inch pages that showcase Ross's photography, fiber and installation work from 2002-2010. This book will be available for a limited time only.

http://www.aliciaross.com/book

Artnicks Post by Maria Stenina :: Aug 9, 2010

2010-08-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

http://artnicks.blogspot.com/

"I am up again past midnight, having sworn I would crash old-lady style. I am g-chatting with Alicia Ross, who is trying to finalize a name for her upcoming solo exhibition for the moment entitled Hot Mess. I like it. The name and the new work, which is based on phrenology, the study of two-dimensional maps outlining the sections of the human head that drew correlations between the shape of one’s skull and specific mental faculties. This diagram of the head as well as the basic theory of phrenology—“reading” the surface of the head to determine personality, morality or character—is what inspired the aesthetic and concept of this series. Having previously interviewed Alicia for the Art:21 blog, I am familiar with her approach to the exploration of the woman's place from a moral standpoint, as well as in the media. Her past subjects (pardon the pun) have hung tightly suspended between power and subjection, cliche and self-expression. They screamed and yet were faceless, symbolic, distorted by the internet images Alicia uses for her references. These women are different. I know them. Or I feel like I do. I have already judged them along with the media,condemned some and celebrated others. Their faces are iconic in shame and exposure, recognizable even in distorted color and broken pixels (which, in this final form, are cross-stitches). Miley Cyrus, the Octomom, the Tot Mom, Lady Gaga, Mrs. Duggar....they have all been stitched into a hot mess of the contradictions and parallels of womanhood, motherhood, and celebrity."

Phrenology Study of Lindsay Lohan, 11 x 14 in, cross-stitch on cotton, 2010

2010-07-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Study of Kendra Wilkinson, 11 x 14 in oval, cross-stitch on cotton, 2010

2010-06-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

NEW WORK: Motherboard_11 (Down Boy), 50 x 54 in, cross-stitch on polyester, 2010

2010-05-17T14:03:00.001-07:00

San Francisco Fine Art Fair / Black and White Gallery

2010-05-08T19:30:00.001-07:00

www.sffineartfair.com

show hours:
Thursday, May 20, 7pm - 9pm / Opening Preview Party
Friday, May 21, noon - 8pm
Saturday, May 22, 11am - 7pm
Sunday, May 23, 11am - 6pm

Phrenology Study of Misty Croslin, 11 x 14", cross-stitch on cotton, 2010

2010-04-29T18:23:00.001-07:00

Slideluck Potshow, Los Angeles--"Women's Work"

2010-03-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

Alicia is pleased to be a part of Slideluck Potshow, Los Angeles entitled "Women's Work." Alicia will be contributing a 3 min video sampler of her artwork over the past few years. Other artists participating include Lauren Greenfield, Elinor Carucci, Jodi Bieber...and many more. Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles, Sunday, April 25th, 9:30PM.

Phrenology Study of Miley Cyrus, 11 x 14", cross-stitch on cotton, 2010

2010-03-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

Pulse NY 2010, March 4 - 7

2010-03-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

Alicia will be represented by
The Black and White Gallery at
Pulse NY / Booth C-5
March 4 - 7, 2010

F5 Magazine, Moscow, Russia

2010-02-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

New Publication:

Alicia's work is featured in the February 2010 Issue of F5 Magazine, Moscow, Russia, Page 31. www.f5.ru/magazine

Video Chat @ Roco 7-8p

2010-02-01T21:57:00.001-08:00

2.6.2010

Thank you so much to the attendees at RoCo and the online chatters who made last night's exercise in art and technology such a success! A special thanks to Daniel Cosentino for donating his time and expertise.

I was thrilled that the technology actually *worked* (always a worry!) and everyone was able to participate in the various interactive components! ...and I'm excited to think of the possibilities for future exhibitions!

Thanks again! - AR

Phrenology Study of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Lady Gaga), cross-stitch on cotton, 11 x 14 oval, 2010

2010-01-18T08:14:00.001-08:00

NEWS :: INTERVIEW with ART:21

2009-11-11T12:48:00.000-08:00

Alicia had the pleasure of being interviewed by Art:21's current guest blogger, Maria Stenina—a designer and writer based in New York City.

M: "Your work is so sinful. It is not a woman's place, after all, to explore pornography and overt sexuality with such craft and beauty. Can you address your dealings with the grotesque and the sensual?"

A: "My work isn’t necessarily an exploration of the grotesque or the sensual independently, but rather an examination..."

http://blog.art21.org/

Phrenology Study of Anna Nicole Smith, 11 x 14 in oval, cross-stitch on cotton, 2009

2009-10-02T15:03:00.001-07:00

Phrenology Study of Mackenzie Phillips, 11 x 14 in oval, cross-stitch on cotton, 2009

2009-10-02T15:02:00.001-07:00

Untitled (Sonya Thomas), video loop, 2009

2009-09-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

Phrenology of Michelle Duggar, 11 x 14 in oval, cross-stitch on cotton, 2009

2009-09-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Study of Nancy Grace, 11 x 14 in oval, cross-stitch on cotton, 2009

2009-08-17T23:21:00.000-07:00

New Work

2009-08-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

Threshold, 29 x 39 inches, cross-stitch on cotton, 2009

Art Review: An Excellent Short Summer Group Show at Black and White Gallery, NYC

2009-07-21T16:20:00.001-07:00

Black and White Gallery’s current exhibit is characteristically relevant, cutting-edge and well worth a jaunt over to the western fringes of Chelsea. Michael Van den Besselaar provocatively addresses denial and in so doing takes a casual slap at pop art shallowness. Softly photorealistic portraits of vintage television sets from the 70s – two of Asian manufacture, one European – project images of terrorist activity (a hijacked airliner, a helicopter and a trio of Mercedes 240 series sedans) from their grainy black-and-white screens. Eerier still is a set of six Weegee-esque dead womens’ faces. Bonnie Parker, Marilyn Monroe, Mother Teresa, Evita Peron and Rosa Parks are smaller in death than life; the Anna Nicole Smith portrait pans down on her, puffy and lifeless in the purest sense of the word.

Most striking of all is Van den Besselaar’s Lethal Chamber Series. Whether or not these are actual depictions of the rooms where American executioners paralyze and then inject convicts with caustic de-icing chemicals, they’re impossible to turn away from, the curtained white rooms with their gurneys and straps radiating a brutally sarcastic soft-focus light.

Also on display: all-white, lifesize gas masks by Konstantinos Stamatiou; starkly strange cross-stitch-on-canvas figures by Alicia Ross...read on

"A BLACK & WHITE WORLD" - A Short Group Show - Black & White Gallery - NYC - July 16 - Aug 8, 2009

2009-06-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

A BLACK & WHITE WORLD

- short summer group show -
July 16 - August 8, 2009

Opening Reception & Live Art Performance:
Thursday, July 16, 2009, 6-9pm

Elia Alba, Michael Van den Besselaar, Jason Clay Lewis, Fernando Mora, Pesu, Alicia Ross, Konstantinos Stamatiou, Eric White

Black and White Gallery
The Chelsea Terminal Warehouse // 636 West 28th St.
New York, NY 10001
t: 212 244 3007 // f: 212 244 3312
HOURS: Tues - Sat, 11 AM - 6 PM and by appt

Alicia Ross to be Represented by the Black and White Gallery at ArtHamptons 2009 / BOOTH D27/D18

2009-06-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

The Bridgehampton Historical Society
2368 Montauk Highway
Bridgehampton, New York 11932
Booth D27/D18

Friday, July 10 - Sunday July 12, 2009
Thursday, July 9 - Gala Opening / Collectors Preview benefiting Guild Hall
www.arthamptons.com

Phrenology Study of Foxy Knoxy/Angel Face (Amanda Knox), cross-stitch on cotton, 11 x 14 oval, 2009

2009-06-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge

Phrenology Study of Jenna Jameson, 11 x 14 in oval, cross-stitch on cotton, 2009

2009-06-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

Phrenology Study of Kate Gosselin, 11 x 14 in oval, cross-stitch on cotton, 2009

2009-05-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge

Phrenology Study of Deborah Lafave, 11 x 14 in oval, cross-stitch on cotton, 2009

2009-04-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge

Phrenology Studies :: Statement

2009-04-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

Tot Mom (Phrenology Study of Casey Anthony) / Octumom (Phrenology Study of Nadya Suleman), Both: 11 x 14 in oval, cross-stitch on cotton, 2009

Nineteenth century phrenology followers referred to a two-dimensional map outlining the sections of the human head that drew correlations between the shape of one’s skull and specific mental faculties. This diagram of the head as well as the basic theory of phrenology—“reading” the surface of the head to determine personality, morality or character—is what inspired the aesthetic and concept of this series.

The series also draws aesthetic influence from traditional art of silhouette portraiture, which was also popular during the nineteenth century and typically displays a human portrait in profile, displayed in an oval frame. Use of silhouettes were also common in the study of physiognomy—another discredited science using exterior facial features to determine personal character.

Illustration in a 19th century book about Physiognomy

Photographs are appropriated from online news sources depicting various celebrity women and digitally translated into cross-stitched portraits. This process of remediation and abstraction creates a cyborg-esque representation, and comments on the public dissection of female roles by the media and society at large.

The women depicted in the Phrenology Series raise questions about motherhood, fertility and morality (personal and medical), as well as the portrayal of their stories by the media. One image in the series depicts the image of Casey Anthony, coined “Tot Mom” by popular media, who currently stands trial for the brutal murder of her three year old daughter, while the image of Nadya Suleman or “Octumom” is accompanied by the digitized likenesses of her eight newborns, made possible by modern advances in in vitro fertilization. “Tot Mom” and “Octumom” stare at one another as polar maternal opposites who receive equally obsessive attention by popular culture.

With reference to historical ties between photography and science, the tendency to associate physical appearance with individual personality, and the abstraction from digital photograph to embroidery, the Phrenology Studies point to traditional expectations and modern-day characteristics ascribed to motherhood and womanhood.

Wall Street Journal / Artists & Blight

2009-04-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992318352327147.html

The Wallstreet Journal does an article on
Cleveland's budding artist communities.

While Pondering Motherhood, Technology & Celebrity

2009-04-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

Thank God for Science (Octumom Phrenology Study)
40 x 40 inches, cross-stitch on cotton, 2009

Pulse NYC 2009

2009-03-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

Click here

Tes One / "Hunt & Gather"

2009-03-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

Hunt & Gather @ artchitecture gallery (Cleveland, Ohio)
Recent artworks by Tes One
Opening reception 7-10 pm Friday 6 March
Exhibition on view 6 March - 5 April 2009
http://www.tesone.net
http://www.artchitecturegallery.com/

Tes One

Britney (study), 11 x 14 in, metallic thread on cotton, pearled pins, 2009

2009-02-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

Eternal Now // Buffalo News Review // Buffalo Arts Studio

2009-02-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

A still from “(altarpiece)” by artist John Aasp

Making sense of religious imagery and carved books at Buffalo Arts Studio

BY COLIN DABKOWSKI

News Staff Reviewer

John Aasp is going to freak you out. His exhibition at Buffalo Arts Studio, “Eternal Now,” is one of the more bone-chilling in recent memory at any local gallery.

Aasp, who hails from Texas, presents a compelling series of short video loops containing religious subject matter that — for anyone who has seen “Rosemary’s Baby” or “The Exorcist” — has some fairly evident and unsettling overtones.

As source material, Aasp has used short clips from silent films and television shows that on their own don’t imply malevolence. But together with Aasp’s visual tricks, in a darkened room with a single church pew for viewers to sit on, the five pieces in the show become beyond creepy.

On the back wall is a projection of an actor playing Jesus Christ. As he gesticulates, the image turns by degrees redder and redder, until it seems that he has been possessed by some evil force. A triptych of a young nun smiling deviously in an endless loop is projected on the adjacent wall, which in turn sits next to a segmented projection of the opening and closing of what looks to be a medieval torture device.

Aasp, an expert filmmaker, exploits the audience’s filmic vocabulary developed from watching countless horror films and thrillers. The short length of his loops makes the projections and video pieces into living portraits, existing in a spooky netherworld between painting and video.

Kevin Charles Kline

The world Kevin Charles Kline has created in his exhibition “DIG: excavations of information visualized” is one that not many could navigate and surely even fewer could survive. But it’s pretty beautiful.

Kline’s exhibition features a collection of books, the covers of which he has cut away with an X-acto knife. He continued to cut through the glued-together pages of the books, one by one, to create complex and multilayered images. Mostly educational in nature, the books have morphed under Kline’s hand from informational resources into often-disturbing abstract collages using only the materials printed on their pages.

Some work, and others don’t. A success is “Surgery Through the Ages,” a book Kline dissected to produce a thoroughly disturbing conglomeration of macabre images that inspire trepidation about what the book might have contained in its normal manifestation. Another weird highlight is Kline’s treatment of “The Illustrated Medical Encyclopedia (for Home Use).”

Kline also produced a series of maps, each constructed from parts of other maps to create fantasy continents in which India butts up against Michigan, Mexico against Chad, and so on.

One pictures wandering through a library of Kline’s massacred books and maps, searching for directions to Toronto or some information on killer whales, but encountering only fragments of visual information more likely to confuse than inform. And that seems to be part of the point.

By meticulously deconstructing books and engineering teratomatic continents from fragments of maps, Kline has perfected two separate and equally compelling styles of object-making. What those objects imply, beyond an apparent disdain for organized systems of literature and cartography, is less clear. Is it a plea for randomization in all things? A quasi-environmental statement on continental drift? A simple desire to organize the world according to visual information?

In any case, the intellectual impetus behind this particular body of work from Kline seems underdeveloped, visually fascinating though the individual pieces may be. It’s not exactly groundbreaking information, as the show’s accompanying essay states, that the world’s information is organized in misleading ways, or that the so-called wisdom in many books may very well be subjective. Kline’s exhibition makes that point exceedingly well, but it stops short of contemplating an alternative.

cdabkowski@buffnews.com

Search Results

2009-01-02T12:29:00.000-08:00

New Work

2008-12-15T18:23:00.000-08:00

Motherboard_8
cross-stitch on cotton & nylon cord
36 x 70 in
2008

HIM

2008-12-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

Maurizio Cattelan, HIM, 2001. Private Collection. Installation view, MCA, Chicago, 2006

At this point in my life, I believe this piece to be the single most impressive and thought-provoking work I have ever seen in person.

"This work juxtaposes the vulnerable, seemingly innocent body of a boy with the adult face of Adolf Hitler, who is widely considered the most evil person of the twentieth century for his responsibility for the deaths of six million Jews in the Holocaust and for the deaths of millions of others in World War II.

Cattelan intended that viewers first approach this diminutive figure from the back and then recognize Hitler when encountering HIM from the front. The scale of the figure, in relation to the physical stature of viewers, shifts the power relationship, perhaps raising conflicting responses, yet it does not diminish the potency of Hitler’s image and the magnitude of his crimes. HIM may serve as a reminder that the face of evil is not always easily recognizable and that individuals can cause terrible destruction."

- MOCA Chicago

Alicia Ross | Artist

News

Slideshow Sampler

Hot Mess

Sacred_Profane

Untitled (The Purse)

Love Swing

Sampler Series

Blanket Series

The Origin of the World (Britney)

Prick (Un petit somme d'Après-midi)

Rockwell's a Surrealist

Phrenology Study of Miley Cyrus

Phrenology Study of Debra Lafave

Phrenology Study of Britney Spears

Phrenology Study of Britney Spears

Phrenology Study of Foxy Knoxy/Angel Face (Amanda Knox)

Phrenology Study of Nancy Grace

Phrenology Study of Misty Croslin

Octumom (Phrenology Study of Nadya Suleman)

Tot Mom (Phrenology Study of Casey Anthony)

Phrenology Study of Kendra Wilkinson

Phrenology Study of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Lady Gaga)

Phrenology Study of Lindsay Lohan

Phrenology Study of Kate Gosselin

Phrenology Study of Mackenzie Phillips

Phrenology Study of Jenna Jameson

Phrenology Study of Michelle Duggar

Phrenology Study of Anna Nicole Smith

Phrenology Studies

Philosophy Devouring Uranus

Motherboard_4 (Assimilate)

Motherboard_3

Motherboard_1 (Struggle)

Motherboard_2 (Pinned)

Untitled (Expecting Marilyn)

Motherboard_6 (A Chicken Waits for a Good Cock)

Motherboard_8

Motherboard_5 (The Siren)

Motherboard_7 (Sacred_Profane)

Motherboard_11 (Down Boy)

Motherboard_12 (Drawn & Quartered)

Motherboard Series

Thank God for Science (Octomom Phrenology Study)

Ishihara Test Series | Video 5

Ishihara Test Series | Video 6

Ishihara Test Series | Video 4

Ishihara Test Series | Video 3

Ishihara Test Series | Video 2

Ishihara Test Series | Video 1

Sound | Moth

Sound | A Chicken Waits (I am no poet)

Ishihara Test Series | Stills

Taut

Fiber Arts Magazine's Summer Issue 2011

Alicia Ross "Motherboard_12 (Drawn & Quartered)" 52 x 94 inches embroidery on cotton, 2011

ARTINFO ARTICLE / PULSE NY 2011

Basic Instinct, at Black & White Project Space in Williamsburg

The New York Observer / "Williamsburg Grows Up"

Exhibition Video / Hot Mess / Brooklyn, NYC 2010

HUFFINGTON POST RECOMMENDED--Hot Mess is one of the "Nine Best Things To Do in NYC This Weekend"

http://tinyurl.com/28pr2zb

Britney's Crotch Finally Gets Some Attention

Hot Mess: Press

PRESS RELEASE: Hot Mess @ Black & White Gallery, Brooklyn, NYC

BOOK JUST RELEASED!!

This self-titled book is the first comprehensive, chronological portfolio published of Alicia Ross's artwork. There are 100 color, 7 x 7 inch pages that showcase Ross's photography, fiber and installation work from 2002-2010. This book will be available for a limited time only.

http://www.aliciaross.com/book

Artnicks Post by Maria Stenina :: Aug 9, 2010

Phrenology Study of Lindsay Lohan, 11 x 14 in, cross-stitch on cotton, 2010

Phrenology Study of Kendra Wilkinson, 11 x 14 in oval, cross-stitch on cotton, 2010

NEW WORK: Motherboard_11 (Down Boy), 50 x 54 in, cross-stitch on polyester, 2010

San Francisco Fine Art Fair / Black and White Gallery

show hours:Thursday, May 20, 7pm - 9pm / Opening Preview PartyFriday, May 21, noon - 8pmSaturday, May 22, 11am - 7pmSunday, May 23, 11am - 6pm

Phrenology Study of Misty Croslin, 11 x 14", cross-stitch on cotton, 2010

Slideluck Potshow, Los Angeles--"Women's Work"

Phrenology Study of Miley Cyrus, 11 x 14", cross-stitch on cotton, 2010

Pulse NY 2010, March 4 - 7

F5 Magazine, Moscow, Russia

Video Chat @ Roco 7-8p

show hours:
Thursday, May 20, 7pm - 9pm / Opening Preview Party
Friday, May 21, noon - 8pm
Saturday, May 22, 11am - 7pm
Sunday, May 23, 11am - 6pm