About Bill
Bill Ross is an fine artist living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ross is a graduate of the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, and has exhibited his work in Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Columbus, Ohio. He works as a social worker for people with developmental disabilities.
His paintings and drawings depict a candy-colored world that is both seductively sweet and jarringly violent. In each of his works, Ross uses storybook visual cues (cute but demented animals and creatures populating a Day-Glo forest with cupcake-covered hills beneath an orange-pop sky) to undermine the phoniness of fairy-tales, while somehow maintaining the innocence and humor. In 2004, Ross began a series of collaborations with artists he met through his line of work, artists with developmental disabilities including Donald Henry, Dale Jackson, Becky Iker, Michael Weber, and Kevin White. These collaborative works (usually paintings) are about opening up the creative process to create something new that would not be possible without the other artist.
In 1999, while supporting people with developmental disabilities, he began to come across artists with disabilities creating incredible works. Raymond Thunder-Sky was the first artist he worked with, and this initial meeting led to Ross, Keith Banner and Antonio Adams co-founding Visionaries & Voices, a studio for artists with disabilities, in 2003. In 2009, Adams, Banner and Ross developed Thunder-Sky, Inc., a non-profit arts organization and gallery dedicated to archiving the works and maintaining the legacy of Raymond Thunder-Sky, as well as offering a chance to exhibit to unconventional artists in the area and from around the world.
His paintings and drawings depict a candy-colored world that is both seductively sweet and jarringly violent. In each of his works, Ross uses storybook visual cues (cute but demented animals and creatures populating a Day-Glo forest with cupcake-covered hills beneath an orange-pop sky) to undermine the phoniness of fairy-tales, while somehow maintaining the innocence and humor. In 2004, Ross began a series of collaborations with artists he met through his line of work, artists with developmental disabilities including Donald Henry, Dale Jackson, Becky Iker, Michael Weber, and Kevin White. These collaborative works (usually paintings) are about opening up the creative process to create something new that would not be possible without the other artist.
In 1999, while supporting people with developmental disabilities, he began to come across artists with disabilities creating incredible works. Raymond Thunder-Sky was the first artist he worked with, and this initial meeting led to Ross, Keith Banner and Antonio Adams co-founding Visionaries & Voices, a studio for artists with disabilities, in 2003. In 2009, Adams, Banner and Ross developed Thunder-Sky, Inc., a non-profit arts organization and gallery dedicated to archiving the works and maintaining the legacy of Raymond Thunder-Sky, as well as offering a chance to exhibit to unconventional artists in the area and from around the world.