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Artist Profile: Kathleen Ross

Kathleen Ross

PO BOX 924
Manchester, MO 63011

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Bio:

My name is Kathleen Ross. I am currently a digital artist, writer, and an art educator. I earned my MFA at the School of Visual Arts in Studio Art with a focus on painting and mixed media. Over time this process has developed into my current medium, digital drawing and mixed media. In general, my canvas is a touch screen tablet and my pen or brush is a stylus. I use photographs, older physical works, and drawings to create mixed media compositions. Then I add additional hand drawn marks to the images. The physical artwork is produced as a Giclée print. This is a digital process where the image is transferred onto archival paper using high quality ink. What I like about this process is that it allows me to create work that doesn’t take up physical space unless I, or somebody else wants to see it in real life. Because of this, I hope to be more environmentally conscious without sacrificing my creative options. Currently I am focused on the way technology influences our perception of real world experiences. In a world where screens dominate everyday life, it’s no surprise that real world problems get an updated look. In the last few years, life has changed to the point where it is easy to distort the truth with an internet connection and a few design skills. “Real is Not an Option” describes the notion that our actions, emotions, and conditions are constantly altered by technology. While it’s not new for power imbalances to exist, the idea that we desire a surveillance society by Government or large corporations is breaking new ground. As we give our personal information away, it is used to sell us a version of ourselves that we believe in. For example, something as innocent as online shopping can reveal a treasure trove of information about us to data miners who sell that information to marketers, political groups, or others. Ultimately, the way this information is used can determine what kind of information we see online everyday. It stands to reason that the highly interactive nature of digital engagement and media take an outsize role in much of modern society. In order to illuminate the way everyday issues get co-opted and distorted through a marketing lens, I use digital images. Underlying tension exists beneath luminous colors, representing the way real issues quickly become marketable. I am particularly interested in the power imbalance in social systems, overall and at the granular level. Every piece references a human condition with winners and losers; oppressors and the oppressed. Figures appear out of context, juxtaposed against contradictory backgrounds or situations, and without explanation. In fact, this intentional placement aspires to reveal the underlying conditions, struggles, and power of the figures. Glowing colors, unusual, possibly festive scenes, or fashion references connect to multiple world issues, including climate change, politics, workers’ rights, racial inequality, and modern slavery. Some pieces directly deal with issues like racial and gender equality, while others may be less obvious. Ultimately, the work, taken in its totality, speaks to all of those issues because they are enmeshed.