"Doug Ross"

The men and women in Doug Ross's pieces have flawlessly porcelaneous skin and bodies too beautiful to cover in anything more than veils, sarongs and loin cloths. Always solemn in expression and often in reverently elegant poses, they are holy beings reminiscent of the Madonna, druid priestesses, nymphs, and Biblical queens. Holiness and physical beauty seem intertwined to the point where one might go so far as to say that the subjects are beautiful because they are holy or holy because they are beautiful.

There is no decay in the pristine world Ross creates and the skies are perpetually majestic, often filled with clouds gathering for what may be a divine manifestation. The lighting dramatizes stone, marble, flesh and fabric, sometimes to Rembrandtesque extremes. The sun and the moon, often worshiped in the ancient times Ross's pieces recall, here seem subservient, existing only to enhance the beauty of men and women.

-Eugene Hwang