Andrew Ross: InScenic

Taylor-Jensen Fine Arts presents InScenic, New works by Andrew Ross featuring a dozen of Andrew’s latest New Zealand landscape oil paintings. A ‘Meet the Artist’ opening will be held at the gallery on Thursday 21st October from 5.30 to 7.30PM.

Ross’ work includes paintings of the Manawatu Gorge, Foxton Beach, Rangitikei Cliffs, Lake Taupo and a variety of well-known scenic South Island lake vistas that he has depicted for the enjoyment of the viewer. All the works are on stretched linen canvases presented as unframed artwork - a favourite style of presentation with contemporary artists. Andrew’s painting is best described as ‘realism with an eye to capture the scene at its best.’

“Some of this is what I see on the day and some is how I imagine it under a given circumstance. I like to create depth in a picture so that you can look into it, not just at it with different detail becoming apparent as you move closer to the work.” Although a few of his paintings have been shown at the gallery in the last six months, InScenic is Andrew Ross’s inaugural solo exhibition at Taylor-Jensen Fine Arts.

Andrew Ross who works as an accounting adviser to Massey University’s College of Sciences paints when he is able to take time after work or between his other responsibilities as husband, father, homeowner, band member and sports enthusiast. He says the process of painting is addictive but takes time, with many layers being used to slowly build up the effects. “As a part-timer, many weeks go by before a work is finished”, he says. “Energy is focused on conveying the feeling of a ‘great view’ and to create the impression that the viewer could actually be standing in the scene. I do a lot of painting in my mind before getting to the easel. I can still be surprised once the process begins, however, with the different turns that can eventuate, once the paint hits the canvas.”

Andrew Ross was born in Wanganui in 1965; from a farming family, he boarded at Feilding Agricultural High School and then attended Massey University where he attained a degree in accounting. Ross worked as an accountant in Tauranga, later moving back to Palmerston North for advancement in the field. In 1999 an opportunity arose to work in London which he eagerly accepted; returning to Palmerston North in 2001. Currently Andrew is an accountant at Massey University advising the Science faculty on financial data and projections for business cases needed to procure funding for capital equipment and new course offerings. Ross is married with two small children; he does find time for golf and an occasional a game of rugby.

Andrew Ross is a self-taught artist who benefits from continual observation and inspection of the work of artists of many eras, genres and styles. He has also benefited more directly by having his work regularly critiqued by eminent New Zealand landscape artist Tim Wilson, a former Palmerston North artist who continues to have a major impact on the art scene both within New Zealand and internationally.

Although Andrew sketched and drew ‘a lot’ as a child it was not until 2003 that he completed his first painting – using paints his wife had purchased during a Pacific holiday, but never continued to use. Today Andrew still practices a painting precept that probably relates to his accounting background: Use the best available paints, the best substrate (linen canvas) and the best quality stretcher frames to ensure that the work will last. The quality of his painted surfaces will most certainly outlast him; he hopes that the praise for his efforts on canvas will as well!

Event listed by Stuart Schwartz

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