Clifford Ross is a multidisciplinary artist who began his career in painting, sculpture, and collage; in 1995, he moved into photography, videography, animation, and invention to become an extreme photographer. While seeking the sublime, his love of nature embraces both realism and abstraction. Ross describes his process, stating, “I can never quite reach the essence of my subject with a camera, so my artistic cycle shifts to a wide range of media and strategies, moving from realism to abstraction. It is a creative loop of dissatisfaction. After using a variety of abstract means, I revert back to using a camera. And so on. Making art is an endless chase.”

In 2016, Ross had a mid-career survey at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts. Ross described this show, Landscape Seen and Imagined, as an experiment because 80% of this exhibit showcased new works. MASS MoCA is a large museum. When Ross saw the 24 x 114′ wall, he imagined Mount Sopris in the Northern Sung painting style. The scale was robust and matched his reaction to the mountain. He said he wanted “to capture nature’s power…its intimacy”. Sopris Wall I did just that. By the way, this is the same mountain that inspired Ross to invent the R1 camera, which has the highest resolution on earth with a viewfinder much more revolutionary than the human eye. He wanted a camera that could come close to a painting and to nature by capturing details, atmosphere, and light as an artist sees it.

Next, he invented the R2 video camera with the same extreme high resolution, which allowed Ross to video hurricane waves in the water while being tethered to the shore. As Ross explained this experience, “I don’t know if the story about [J. M. W.] Turner strapping himself to the mast of a ship during a storm is apocryphal, but if it is true, I can understand why he did it. Nothing is more vivid or real than the collision of a storm with the sea. Photographing hurricanes could very well be the least abstract experience of my life.” The R2 allowed pieces like Wave Cathedral to be produced. The two LED walls (each 14 x 24′) had a “sculptural quality” and a powerful presence that matched the hurricane waves. He gave each pixel an LED bulb, making it crisp. Ross disputes his knowledge of technology by stating, “I don’t understand technology, but I use it. I am always looking for the fullest expression of my conception and will follow it past any sane point. Over and over again, invention is part of creativity.”

A giant 12-screen video sequence annexed the courtyard at MASS MoCA with sound. Called Harmonium Mountain, Ross combined Mount Sopris’s image with computer-generated animations of dramatic and colorful images. He made this form of animation into a video opera named Harmonium Display. Ross presented many worldwide iterations of original scores with this art. Philip Glass created an original score that was performed by Wu Tong. See the video performance at China’s Central Conservatory of music in Beijing here.

The standout hyper-detailed 114-x 24’ photograph on wood, Sopris Wall I matched Ross’s experience with the mountain. With the R1, he not only captured the mountain’s power, but its intimacy with its thousands of details.

In 2012, Ross designed the Austin Wall in two parts. Ross’s bottom section included images of the nearby mountain landscapes replicated in a halftone technique. This portion was used to make doors that required transparency. Above, the top part transformed into a stained-glass collage in collaboration with Michael Mayer at Franz Mayer of Munich. With multiple firings of hand-painting and digital printing etchings, the collage came to life. Weighing approximately 9,000 pounds, this artwork won an Honor Award for Excellence in Federal Design from the General Services Administration.

Clifford Ross is an extreme photographer with a painterly eye and a sculptural soul. His love of art history informs his work. As Ross explains, “The project is no longer just about waves, hurricanes, sky, grain, abstraction, or conceptual structures. It has evolved into something else. It has become a meditation on the medium of photography as much as a photographic reflection of our world.”

We can see more of his work at his website and his galleries, Ryan Lee Gallery and Sonnabend in New York .

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