Clifford Ross

Born in New York City, Ross earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Art History from Yale University in 1974, with a residency at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1973. Following an early career in painting and sculpture, Ross began his photographic work in 1995. A major milestone in his work is the Hurricane Series, begun in 1998. The black and white images in the series depict large-scale ocean waves shot by Ross from the water while tethered to an assistant on land.

In 2002, in order to photograph Mount Sopris in Colorado, Ross invented and received a patent for the R1 camera, and then went on to make some of the highest resolution large-scale landscape photographs in the world. His curiosity of the landscape then led him to 3D computer generated animation and the creation of “Harmonium Mountain”, a video with an original score by Philip Glass.

In 2009, the Austin Museum of Art exhibited a ten year survey of Ross’ work “Outside Realism: Clifford Ross Photography”, and “Clifford Ross: Mountains and Sea” opened at the MADRE/Naples National Archaeological Museum in Italy.

Ross has lectured in many university settings, including Princeton, Yale, Harvard, and New York University. Since 2004, he has been a visiting artist in residence at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. He is also a member of the Yale School of Art Dean’s Advisory Board, which includes artists Chuck Close, Richard Serra, Byron Kim, and Sheila Hicks.

Ross has authored books on Abstract Expressionism and Edward Gorey, and is a contributing editor to BOMB and Blind Spot magazines.