Douglas Ross

“There are several ways in which abstraxi relates to claiming and taking possession. We could get deeper into what it means to even take a photograph as a mode of claiming or taking possession. The tapestry in abstraxi is derived from my photographs of a singular location in the Midwestern U.S. And the area where I took the photographs was where the Delaware people lived. So and after that, the Mingo, which was the name white people used for the Seneca and the Cayuga and the Iroquois who migrated there in the mid-1700s. There’s a connection between human conflict and human suffering and the suffering of the earth.”

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Douglas Ross, installation view of *abstraxi*, 2014. Jacquard-woven cotton tapestry and steel, installation dimensions variable (82.5 × 840 inches extended). Courtesy the artist.
Douglas Ross, detail view of *abstraxi*, 2014. Jacquard-woven cotton tapestry and steel, installation dimensions variable (82.5 × 840 inches extended). Courtesy artist.
Douglas Ross, detail view of *abstraxi*, 2014. Jacquard-woven cotton tapestry and steel, installation dimensions variable (82.5 × 840 inches extended). Courtesy the artist.
Douglas Ross, detail view of *abstraxi*, 2014. Jacquard-woven cotton tapestry and steel, installation dimensions variable (82.5 × 840 inches extended). Courtesy the artist.
Douglas Ross, detail view of *abstraxi*, 2014. Jacquard-woven cotton tapestry and steel, installation dimensions variable (82.5 × 840 inches extended). Courtesy the artist.
Technical drawing, new steel frame for *abstraxi*, 2014/2020. Digital rendering. Courtesy the artist.
 
Douglas Ross, Sections for a tapestry, 2013. Digital image, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.
1969 NASA rehearsal photograph (NASA S-69-38216) of the U.S. flag implanted on the Moon incorporating the flag of 1777. Courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“Moon Town will require tougher steels . . . ,” 1970. Republic Steel advertisement, featured in *Aviation Week*, May 25, 1970. Courtesy of Republic Steel.
 

Douglas Ross (b. Brockton, Massachusetts, 1969) earned a BFA in fine art from Parsons/The New School, and an MFA in computer art from School of Visual Arts in New York City. Ross has participated in exhibitions and screenings at MoMA PS1, Queens, USA; SculptureCenter, Queens, USA; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Bronx, USA; Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, USA; MOCA, Miami, USA; Rotterdam Film Festival, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Netwerk Aalst, Aalst, Belgium; Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany; New Museum, New York, USA; Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain; The Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, USA; and Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, USA, among other venues. Ross has been artist-in-residence at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA PS1 International Studio Program, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s World Trade Center World Views Program, and ARCUS Project, Ibaraki, Japan. Grants and fellowships include Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Socrates Sculpture Park, the Asian Cultural Council, the Nancy Graves Foundation, and Smithsonian Institution Artist Research Fellowship. Ross currently lives and works in Queens, New York.

Image in menu: Douglas Ross, installation view of abstraxi, 2014, Jacquard-woven cotton tapestry and steel, installation dimensions variable (82.5 × 840 inches extended). Courtesy the artist.

Douglas Ross

“There are several ways in which abstraxi relates to claiming and taking possession. We could get deeper into what it means to even take a photograph as a mode of claiming or taking possession. The tapestry in abstraxi is derived from my photographs of a singular location in the Midwestern U.S. And the area where I took the photographs was where the Delaware people lived. So and after that, the Mingo, which was the name white people used for the Seneca and the Cayuga and the Iroquois who migrated there in the mid-1700s. There’s a connection between human conflict and human suffering and the suffering of the earth.”

 
 

Douglas Ross (b. Brockton, Massachusetts, 1969) earned a BFA in fine art from Parsons/The New School, and an MFA in computer art from School of Visual Arts in New York City. Ross has participated in exhibitions and screenings at MoMA PS1, Queens, USA; SculptureCenter, Queens, USA; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Bronx, USA; Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, USA; MOCA, Miami, USA; Rotterdam Film Festival, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Netwerk Aalst, Aalst, Belgium; Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany; New Museum, New York, USA; Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain; The Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, USA; and Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, USA, among other venues. Ross has been artist-in-residence at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA PS1 International Studio Program, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s World Trade Center World Views Program, and ARCUS Project, Ibaraki, Japan. Grants and fellowships include Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Socrates Sculpture Park, the Asian Cultural Council, the Nancy Graves Foundation, and Smithsonian Institution Artist Research Fellowship. Ross currently lives and works in Queens, New York.

Image in menu: Douglas Ross, installation view of abstraxi, 2014, Jacquard-woven cotton tapestry and steel, installation dimensions variable (82.5 × 840 inches extended). Courtesy the artist.