Alexandra Ross (b. London, 1968) is a visual artist, based in Cape Town, South Africa.
She is known primarily as a painter but her diverse oeuvre encompasses drawing, printmaking, paper collage, photography and video. Her work expresses the ephemeral, transient nature of being and is often ambiguous and suggestive, oscillating between the playful and the profound, and between figuration and abstraction. The window, as physical object and as metaphor for the lenses through which we view the world, is a leitmotif in her work. Her early paintings, characterised by a subtle, desaturated colour palette and transparent, layered washes have given way to more saturated, vivid colours and graphic, defined edges.
Her first solo exhibition in 2007 won the Brait-Everard Read Art Award. Since then, she has had another six solo shows and two two-person shows. Her work has been exhibited on numerous group exhibitions and art fairs in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Ventabren (France) and Berlin.
Her seventh solo exhibition, Looking Out To The Sea To See showed at the Everard Read Franschhoek in February 2023 following a two-month residency at the Everard Read at Leeu Estates in late 2022.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Looking Out To The Sea To See / Everard Read, Franschhoek
2017 Twenty Thousand Apparitions / Everard Read, Johannesburg
2016 How to Boil an Egg / Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg
2013 A Matter of Light & Breath / Room, Johannesburg
2011 1:1 / David Krut Projects, Johannesburg
2009 In Search of Lost Time / David Krut Projects, Johannesburg
2007 Viewpoint / Everard Read, Johannesburg
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Les Amis Invisible / (two-person show with David Ross) / Galerie En Art Point de Frontière, Ventabren, France
2018 3y3k / Twilsharp Studios, Johannesburg
2017 Collage / Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg
2017 2y2k / Twilsharp Studios, Johannesburg
2015 The Black Cube Sessions / Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg
2012 Alptraum / Goethe Gallery, Johannesburg
2012 Dog / Gerard Sekoto Gallery, Johannesburg
2012 Joburg Fringe / Johannnesburg
2011 Agter Die Berge / 7Hours, Berlin
2011 Long Leash / Temporärity, Berlin
2011 Joburg Fringe / Johannnesburg
2011 Figures of Speech / jozi art:lab, Johannesburg
2010 7th Berliner Kunstsalon / Berlin
2010 View From The South / Everard Read, Johannesburg
2010 Joburg Art Fair / Everard Read & David Krut
2009 The Great South African Nude / Everard Read, Johannesburg
2009 Supermarket / Muti Gallery, Cape Town
2009 Joburg Art Fair / Everard Read & David Krut
2008 Joburg Art Fair / Everard Read
2008 In Camera / (two-person show with David Ross) / Resolution Gallery, Johannesburg
2005 5 Women / Gesseau Gallery, Johannesburg
2004 Young Visions / Gerard Sekoto Gallery, Johannesburg
RESIDENCIES & AWARDS
2022 Everard Read Residency at Leeu Estates / Franschhoek, South Africa
2010 kunst:raum Residency / Sylt, Germany
2008 Nirox Foundation Residency / Cradle of Humankind, South Africa
2007 Brait-Everard Read Art Award / Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa
TEACHING
2017 - 2021 Lecturer / 1st and 3rd year (2019-20) architecture students for the Interdisciplinary Design and Presentation course/ Department of Architecture / University of Johannesburg
2012 - 2014 Tutor / 1st year Fine Art students for the Critical Theory course / University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
EDUCATION
2008 MAFA (incomplete) / University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
1990 BAFA / University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg