Richard Ross — Art with a Purpose

RICHARD ROSS (b.1947) is an artist/activist/photographer and distinguished research professor of art based in Santa Barbara, California. As the creator of “Juvenile-in-Justice,” his work turns a lens on the placement and treatment of American juveniles housed by law in facilities that treat, confine, punish, assist and, occasionally, harm them. Ross has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, MacArthur, Public Welfare Foundation and the Center for Cultural Innovation. Ross was awarded both Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships.

Ross’s first book, “Museology,” a photographic examination of museums and the display of art and historical objects, was published by Aperture Foundation in 1989 and features an introduction by Marcia Tucker, founder of the New Museum and former curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and an essay by David Mellor, art historian and curator.

His second book, “Gathering Light,” explores natural and artificial light and its intrinsic relationship to photography itself through photographs of objects and places from all over the world.

Published in 2004, Ross’s third book, “Waiting for the End of the World,” is compiled of photographs of bomb and other underground shelters the world over, including an underground city in Beijing, China. Michael Darling, chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, wrote about “Waiting for the End of the World” that “Ross’s images of bomb shelters represent a crushing indictment of the current state of world affairs as well as a clarion call to action.”

After “Waiting for the End of the World,” Ross published three books compiling successful U.S. patent applications from the last century; “Patently Ridiculous,” “Patently Erotic,” and “Patently Christmas.” The books were published by Plume.

In 2007, with Aperture Foundation, Ross published “Architecture of Authority.” The book was included in Photo District News best books of 2007 and the accompanying exhibition was number 10 on the Artforum list of best shows of 2007. The book features an essay by John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper’s Magazine.

Ross’s first book covering the U.S. juvenile justice system, “Juvenile in Justice,” was published in 2012 with a foreword by Ira Glass and an essay by Bart Lubow. The nearly 150 images in the book were made over 5 years of visiting more than 1,000 youth confined in more than 200 juvenile institutions in 31 states.

— Wikipedia

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