S Ross Browne

My work is a series of allegories that simultaneously reveal its overt messages and hidden meanings that challenge notions about the collective journeys of all people but those of the African diaspora in particular. I paint these collective and often historical allegories, both affirmed and disputed, giving them a framework to challenge the struggles of identity, power and self actualization. My subjects are in classical pictorial representations using delineations of factual chronicles and imagined mythology replete with persuasive imagery that defies the common visual library and the often polemic misrepresentations of people of color. I use contrasting narratives with symbolism hidden in plain view that feeds discourse in an attempt to shed light on the weaponization of race and it's hypocritical progeny.
These illustrated and often wordless stories use stark uncompromising realism as a catalyst for eroding the conventionally assigned racial archetypes. As a result of varying degrees of subtlety in the hidden and not so hidden symbolism in each artwork, a web of truths are revealed in the fabric of our historic racial synecdoche by actually creating initial allegories in the minds of the viewers that often change and evolve wi...

Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts, CA&D,
Richmond, VA 1987-1990

Corcoran School of the Arts, Photography,
Washington, DC, 1984

The Miller School of Albemarle,
Charlottesville, VA 1982-1987

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

June 28 - August 16 2024 - [WORK] EXHIBITION
True F. Luck Gallery, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

April 12 2024 - VALENTINE MUSEUM 125TH ANNIVERSARY GALA
Valentine Museum, Richmond, Virginia

March 6 - 9 2024 - CARIBBEAN FINE ART FAIR
Bagnall’s Point Gallery, Pelican Village Craft Center, Bridgetown, Barbados

February 1 - 29 2024 - BLACK ARTIST SHOWCASE
Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, Virginia

January 16 - February 23 2024 - HISTORIES AND STORIES: A SPECIAL PROVINCE
Hunt Gallery, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, Virginia

January 11 - February 28 2024 - BAAAR EXHIBITION
VCU Health System Gallery, Richmond, Virginia

June 16 - August 13 2023 - [WORK]
True F. Luck Gallery, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

May 24 - October 7 2023 - THE ART OF FREEDOM II
Black History Museum of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia

May 13 2023 - COLLECTORS NIGHT AUCTION
True F. Luck Gallery, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

April 14 - May 21 2023 - CULTURE, COLOR, & CUBISM: ARTISTS RESPOND TO PABLO & ROMY
The Mint Museum & Nine Eighteen Nine Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina

January 31 - February 11 2023 - CABIN FEVER LIVE AUCTION
1708 Gallery, Richmond, Virginia

Oct...