Ross Harvey is a traditional tonal realist in approach. He paints directly from the subject set up on a table before him using natural light, with only a plumb bob and mirror as technical aids. He never paints from photographs, which reproduce the camera’s vision rather than the painter’s. His unparalleled technical proficiency is the result of a lifelong pursuit of perfection, and of study of the old masters and their techniques.
Still-life best enables Ross to combine what he considers important in picture making: careful, balanced composition, tonal subtlety, light, form and depth. It is important to Ross that his pictures be as real as possible, but it is equally important that they be aesthetic wholes, achieved by the interplay of shapes, forms and spaces, so that they have an appearance of inevitability and cannot be mistaken for snapshots. They are not mere reproductions of casual groupings of objects.
The combination of truth of tone, precision of detail, subtlety of gradation, and awareness of light, mood and atmosphere, makes his work unique in this country.
He has a vision of what the perfect picture should be, and has devoted his life to realising it regardless of the time required. It is usual for him to spend up to eight months per picture, and he would rather produce one masterpiece than a hundred mediocre paintings. The result of this study and devotion to excellence can be seen in his works.
All images on this site are copyright Ross Harvey 2019.
Represented by Australian Galleries, 15 Roylston Street, Paddington, NSW 2021, tel 02 9360 5177
Ross Harvey 