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I
was born in Cheverly, MD in 1969. I am the youngest of four boys,
all with the same triple-R initials. A moment of parental silliness
has brought a lifetime of ridicule. In our playroom, my Dad hung MC
Escher prints that he bought from a yardsale. They have had their
effect.
Growing
up, I was fascinated by the Viewmaster® toy that belonged to my
brother Ronald Ross. One inserted little circular picture disks into
it and viewed them one at a time, in 3-D stereoscopic vision. We had
a handful of discs, mostly containing scenes from movies I had never
seen. Entire movies would be reduced down to 10 scenes or so. I had
to concoct my own story behind these images scene out of context.
And
that's the kind of experience i like to duplicate in my paintings.
I have a basic overall story for each pictures, but I think it limits
the enjoyment of the picture to spell out too much. It's a natural
human tendency to want to know what's behind the door: The Lady or
The Tiger? Frank Stockton immortalized his short story of the same
name by never telling us...
Why
do I paint?
These paintings are things I imagine. I have an overwhelming need
to materialize these visions, to see them for myself. It's not enough
for me to conjure up in my mind a tribe of fierce, wrestling hot dogs.
I want to see the image, in all its detail, birthed and in the open.
I also want you to see it. My telling you about it is one thing. I
think my showing it to you is much more compelling. I am also afraid
that if I merely try to keep the image stored up in my mind with no
release I will run out of room.
Why
do I paint these things?
First, my father is a terrible packrat. He is not a collector. The
title implies organization and orderliness. A more accurate term is
"accumulator". Much of my parents' house is piled with boxes of mysterious
contents and yard sale crap from floor to ceiling. I suppose he has
a stubborn desire to retain junk for thirty years to see if it ever
becomes valuable. I think it is due to my upbringing in such a house
that my pictures are so dominated by clutter. The clutter in my paintings
tends to many of one thing, rather than a cascading hodge-podge...a
clutter of multiplicities. Pass a traffic cone on the highway, you'd
barely notice. Now beyond the highway abutment you see a pile of thousands
of them, mountains of them tumbling over each other. Suddenly they
become extremely interesting and hold your attention. They suddenly
take on additional meaning. Their numbers become so significant that
they are no longer objects; they are landscape. I like that effect
immensely and explore it frequently.
Most things
that a person becomes can be traced back to family. I started painting
at age 15, about the same time as my eldest brother Bob was developing
a severe kind of schizophrenia. Things were quite scary in the house
for some time. The frustrating and unreasonable nature of the disorder
makes day-to-day living so surreal. The most unnerving thing is that
one becomes accustomed to it after a time...My most vivid memory of
the time was of chasing Bob through the woods and through neighborhood
backyards well past midnight, trying to bring him home without getting
us both arrested. At the time he had scribbled all over himself, head
to toe, with magic markers. We Roundys were heavy into the arts even
then. I don't remember clearly if the unreal state of of affairs was
a springboard for my art or whether my art was an escape. Probably
a bit of both.
What
do my paintings mean?
I want to reply so badly "they don't mean anything" or "that question
has no meaning" but I don't think that's a fair response to what is
generally an earnest inquiry from someone who at least gives a damn.
If the person cares enough to be curious and to come up to me and
ask about something in the painting I feel obliged to satisfy that
curiosity. But look, it doesn't mean anything. What does Woody Woodpecker
mean? A better tack to take, at least with my stuff, is "What were
you thinking about when you were painting this?" and even then you're
going to get different answers at different times. The last thing
I want is for it to be about one thing and be unequivocal. Then it
becomes illustration. I'm not knocking illustration, I'm just saying
tat i'm too much of a wiseguy to do illustration right, to make it
clear and forward. I get a lot more enjoyment finding out what you
think something is about. If I had my way with galleries I would put
couches in front of every painting. I would make it more comfortable
for prolonged looking. I like to reward people who take their time
with a picture, and I think that's quite difficult these days. Besides
little rewards like discovering which character has six fingers instead
of five in a certain painting, you will also get closer to the deeper
secrets in the picture.
Education:
Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1991. Yale University
Exhibition
History:
2003
Solo
Show
Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA.
2002
Arts on Fire
IV:
Juried Exhibition of California Artists
Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA.
First Prize Award.
2000
Emotionally Annoyed
ESP Gallery
San Francisco, CA
1999
Fall Fundraising Exhibition
Headlands Center for the Arts
Sausalito, CA
GENART:
Emerge 1999
Showcase ofEmerging Bay Area Artists
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco, CA
1998
7th Annual Luggage Show
Luggage Store Gallery
San Francisco, CA
Nothing
But Time: 8th Annual Juried Exhibition
Southern Exposure Gallery
San Francisco, CA
Two-Person
Exhibition/Happening (with Michael Stutz)
Museum of the City of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
1997
6th Annual Luggage Show
Luggage Store Gallery
San Francisco, CA
Inaugural
Group Show
Linetzky-Molinero Fine Art
San Francisco, CA
Spring
Group Show
Linetzky-Molinero Fine Art
San Francisco, CA
1996
Solo Exhibition
David Levine Gallery
Bern, Switzerland
1995
Solo Exhibition
Museum of Contemporary Art/ Clark & Co. Artspace
Washington, DC
Post-Pop/Post-Punk:
A Tribute to Alice Denny
Museum of Contemporary Art/ Clark & Co. Artspace
Washington, DC
1994
Group Exhibition
David Levine Gallery
Bern, Switzerland
Summer
Show Gallery K
Washington, DC
1993
Small is Beautiful (Group Show)
Gallery K Washington, DC
Solo
Exhibition
Arnold & Porter Law Offices
Washington, DC
Annual
Open Juried Exhibition
Atheneum Museum
Alexandria, VA
1991
Senior Project Thesis Show
Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, CT
Lectures:
1998
Appropriation in Contemporary Art:
featuring the paintings of Rodger Roundy
University of California at Berkeley, History of Art 1B
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