Curiosities: “Completely Magical”

Dramatic photograph of volatile hurricane waves, by artist Clifford Ross

Hurricane LXXXIV

©Clifford Ross/courtesy of the Portland Museum of Art

Clifford Ross doesn’t so much evoke nature as recreate how we see it. Since turning to photography in the 1990s, he has produced a store of images that primarily reflect two subjects: Colorado’s Mount Sopris, and waves breaking on the shores of Long Island. The sites appear in various forms and media throughout Clifford Ross: Sightlines, at the Portland Museum of Art, October 8-January 9. “One amazing thing about this show is how an economy of means gives rise to this endless creative profusion,” says exhibit curator Jessica May (formerly at the Portland museum, and now managing director of art and exhibitions at The Trustees and artistic director of the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum). “His work is both high modernist American abstraction and this extraordinary representation of the natural world.”

Although one-dimensional, his water, trees, and earth seem to unfold and shapeshift on the wall. For the “Waterline” series, Ross cropped images and printed them on slick, translucent paper, says May, letting the ink pool before it sets. The “completely magical” forms “trick your eye: ‘Am I looking at a negative so finely delineated that you can see the leaves on a tree a half a mile from where the photo was taken?’” May asks, “‘or am I looking at a watercolor?’” Similarly, the gray-scaled “Hurricane” series (Hurricane LXXXIV) renders the purity of massive, turbulent, foaming waves—looking like fresh-whipped cream—that crest and curl toward crash landings. But focus, too, on the balanced effervescent sea spray and delicacy of droplets. Ross’s work urges viewers to engage, to get right up close and witness the elemental powers of nature.

Click here for the November-December 2021 issue table of contents

Read more articles by Nell Porter-Brown

You might also like

Salsa Squared

Latin dancing fills the streets in Harvard Square   

Reconstructing the Berlin Wall

David Leo Rice explores the strange, unseen forces shaping our world.

On the Margins

Filmmaker John Armstrong’s “outdoor adventures” find the human spirit.

Most popular

House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs

The University must turn over all requested materials related to tuition and financial aid by mid-July. 

Two Momentous Faculty Retirements

Arthur Kleinman and Harry Lewis depart the classroom.

The Professor Who Quantified Democracy

Erica Chenoweth’s data shows how—and when—authoritarians fall.

Explore More From Current Issue

Harvard Economist Nicole Maestas on Aging and Health Policy

The Harvard health economist not afraid to get in the weeds

Harvard’s Comedy and Improv Scene

In comedy groups, students find ways to be absurd, present, and a little less self-conscious.

A Look at Harvard’s Distinctive Doctoral Regalia

On regalia, a Jack-of-all-trades retirement, and a Bok’s office bon mot.