About Ross Eccles
Tuesday August 18, 2009
Ross Eccles was born in Lancashire, England in 1937, but moved to Ireland in the 1970's (after a few madcap adventures on the continent!) to set up practice as an architect. Although he enjoyed architecture there was no hiding from the fact that what Ross was truly passionate about was art... and so, in the early 1990's, he made the decision to retire from architectural practice in order to be able to paint full-time. Since then he has exhibited his quirky, distinctive pieces throughout Ireland, the UK, France and Los Angeles, and has undoubtedly become one of Ireland's most prolific and best loved artists, with an ever-growing international reputation. His fan-base is as broad and diverse as his body of work, with admirers of all ages hailing from every corner of the world, and including a number of well-known public figures.
Ross's style is typically carefree and colourful, with a lively measure of humour visible in many of his works. He earned his reputation in the 1990's with his bright, meandering pen and watercolour pieces, generally depicting Dublin city scenes and well-known Irish landmarks. In the late 1990's he began to experiment more and more with acrylic paint, enjoying the way the medium allowed him to work in a fast, loose manner that undeniably complimented his artistic style and vision. In an artist's statement in 2008 Ross admitted:
'I prefer to use acrylic rather than oil because it allows me to work quickly. I want to pour all my energy into a canvas and try to finish is while the idea is uncorrupted in my mind.'
His progress as an artist has led to larger, more abstract pieces, which are markedly original and unlike anything else being created by any of his artistic contemporaries. Several of these recent, conceptual pieces took centre stage during Ross's ‘Autotelism' exhibition, at the Hangar Gallery in Santa Monica (April 2009), and are can now be found on display at the Jeanie Madsen Gallery in Los Angeles.
Energy and colour are the fundamental elements of his work, each of his paintings alive with a multitude of merging, vibrant colours that bend and blend around the canvas. He is a continually progressive artist, constantly developing and exploring his own style, with his subjects encompassing everything from pretty landscapes, to controversial war scenes and wonderful cartoon-like characters. Often those who are coming across Ross's paintings for the first time are surprised to hear that the artist is a retired man in his 70's, given the edgy, provocative character of his work. Most recently Ross has begun to incorporate neon paint into his paintings, in a manner reminiscent of many graffiti and street artists. The luminous colours lend themselves perfectly to his already vivid palette, and add a new dimension to his work.
The thing that is most thrilling about Ross and his artwork is his unflinchingly dedication to his craft, and the unpredictability of what he will do next. His whole life centres on painting and pushing creative boundaries, something that has made him quite an elusive, but all-the-more intriguing, character:
'Whe I am painting nothing else exists. I am wholly focused on creating something new. I block out everything else around me. It is this kind of intense focus that so often leaves me feeling drained and exhausted on completion of a piece. Once I have created a painting it no longer belongs to me but rather takes its own place in the universe. I just allow it to come alive through me. I dream ideas but I don't like to plan or consciously structure my paintings. Each creation is haphazard and random, and I let the paint fall on the canvas without fear of mistake. Sometimes I may design a specific piece to fulfil a request or to be part of a series of works for a gallery or an exhibition, but for the most part I don't premeditate my art or think of the viewer. If I did that I would feel very constrained. In art, as in life, perfection is the ultimate unobtainable. I want to keep pushing forward and am always striving for something new, if I were to create the "perfect" painting then there would be nothing left to achieve'.
It is not hard to see why so many people admire and collect his cheerful, idiosyncratic works, or why there is so much interest in the man himself. A charming but elusive figure that continues to surprise us with his works and his direction. The Frank Grace Gallery along with all Ross's fans worldwide eagerly await what the artist comes up with next.
