Monumental Work

The focus of a great deal of Ross’s energy toward the last years of his life were a series of massive paintings on builder’s plastic sheeting. Completed outside in the front yard of Bulimba Road, Ross made layer upon layer of these extraordinary paintings, building them up on top of each other until an edit became necessary and some were rolled up and stored in the back sheds to make room for more. The scale and ambition of his creative practice only increased, and from 2014 he the paintings became even more massive scale (up to six metres long and three metres wide) on plastic sheeting. This group of works is both extremely ambitious and extraordinarily powerful in their final resolution.

A long, thing painting with bright yellow abstract, geometric brushstrokes on black plastic

Yellow and Black, 2017-19, acrylic on plastic sheeting, 200 x 520 cm


Technically, these paintings were very difficult to pull off. 
Firstly, their scale required Ross to have an image and translate it with an inherent sense of structure, despite being able to assess it visually.

Seen in Drone shots taken by Brendan Hutchens, their complex structure is breathtakingly co-ordinated across the metres of the surface, resulting in a tightly woven set of forms.

The image of a Dunnart (a marsupial mouse though in Ross’ version it is more like a fire breathing dragon) is surprisingly coherent considering the scale at which he was working.

Photograph of a front lawn with a large black painting being unfolded by three people

Ross Seaton's home, August 2020. Photograph by Brendan Hutchens.

A long, thin painting with abstract blue and black brushstrokes on white plastic

Blue & Black, 2017-19, acrylic on plastic sheeting, 200 x 650cm

Arial photograph over the roof of a house with a large black and white painting spread flat on the lawn in front

Ross Seaton's home, August 2020. Photograph by Brendan Hutchens.

Photograph of a garage with two large plastic paintings spread out on the driveway and an array of paint materials and supplies scattered around

Ross Seaton's home, August 2020. Photograph by Brendan Hutchens.



Several of these large works on plastic sheeting seem like Runes, letters from an unknown alphabet, describing a truth we can only speculate.

- Ted Snell, curator

 

A long, thin painting with white, abstract and geometric brushstrokes on black plastic
A long, thin painting with red and blue abstract, geometric brushstrokes on white plastic

Top to bottom: Black & White: The Force and Red, Blue & White, 2017-19, acrylic on plastic sheeting, 200 x 520 cm each

Detail of a large black plastic painting with bold white patterns and bricks placed along the edgePhotograph by Brendan Hutchens, August 2020.


Several of these large works on plastic sheeting seem like Runes, letters from an unknown alphabet, describing a truth we can only speculate.

In white on black, yellow on black plastic and some in blue and red on clear plastic sheeting, the letter forms hover and shimmy across the surface, activated by the artist to draw our eye at varying speeds from one to the next.

One is a dense undergrowth of spikey forms creating an all-over pattern of dazzling inventiveness, while others are more like pages from a ritual text.

Arial photograph of a house and yard with a large, blue painting spread on the front lawn depicting what appears to be an animal

Ross Seaton's home, August 2020. Photograph by Brendan Hutchens.






Seen in Drone shots taken by Brendan Hutchens, their complex structure is breathtakingly co-ordinated across the metres of the surface, resulting in a tightly woven set of forms.

- Ted Snell, curator
Detail of a painting with abstract white, yellow and blue brushstrokes on black plastic and the words 'Ross Seaton' written on the bottom

Photograph by Ted Snell