Ross Hamilton
Artist Statement
As social distancing and wearing a mask imposed its self on me, I took to daily walks around my Northeast neighborhood and parks. Recognizing faces behind masks, just seeing eyes, became a fascination. This effort quickly translated to the shapes and forms in trees and flora around me. A set of eyes, a mouth with a grin or frown started to appear as I looked for faces in the bark of the trees in the park. Different faces, characters at different times of the day with different angles of light changing an expression from fearsome to goofy. From human to non-human. Every face a spirit from a different world. A changed world to my eye, my mind.
Artist Bio
I began my lifetime as a photographer at the age of 8 when I received my first camera for Christmas, and I owned by craft through art school and 40 years as a photojournalist for the Oregonian, shooting daily until covid-19 cut short my subjects. It was then that I discovered faces in the trees, and began shooting the spirits in the bark, sometimes anguished, sometimes whimsical, often weirdly baroque and painterly. I'm still finding new images in the images, still getting lost in the complexities sculpted by God's hand, boosting the natural colors to reveal even more.
Pricing
16”x20”, $300 each
