Untitled #01/08 (after Caravaggio, 1600; featuring Alex Baresi)

ALEX BARESI'S CHARITY

10% of each sale of Edition Prints of Untitled #01/08 (after Caravaggio, 1600; featuring Alex Baresi) will be donated to Alex's nominated charity - Münchner Aids-Hilfe.

Go to Limited Edition Prints

Ross and Stephen in the gallery with Alex Baresi, who later modeled for Ross. The Genova economics graduate was recently voted International Gay Porn Star for 2007.

Canada's hit gay travel TV series, BUMP!TV, visited Ross' recent Sydney exhibition. Presenter Shannon McDonough spoke with Ross about his art and career, in an interview which will be included in an episode featuring Australia, screening in Europe, the U.K. and North America from May 2008.

:: WHEN LIFE MERGES WITH ART
Sydney Star Observer - Sydney,New South Wales, Australia
Just as in his artworks though, the real and surreal elements of Ross Watson’s life seem to merge seamlessly. Exhibiting since 1984, Watson’s latest show, ...

:: ROSS WATSON MCV COVER FEATURE:

Beauty and Meaning - a feature interview with Ross Watson by Lucy Elliot in this December 2007 issue No 361, which illustrates Ross' portrait of Jake Shears, the edition of which is now sold out.

View MCV Cover

This painting which references Hans Holbein's (The Younger) 'Sir Thomas More', was commissioned by a Melbourne collector who is a lawyer, and who features on the painting's right side. Sir Thomas More was King Henry VIII's lawyer and was sentenced to hang for treason. Subsequently canonised, Saint Thomas More is a patron saint of lawyers and statesmen.

Holbein's painting hangs in The Frick Museum in New York, where Ross and the collector have enjoyed viewing it. This painting was the sole suggestion the collector made to Ross, and the rest was a surprise. On seeing it finished he commented, "Oh Ross, it far exceeds my greatest expectations".

:: SUCCEEDING FAMOUSLY
If securing high-profile subjects is a measure of an artist's success, Ross Watson is doing very nicely indeed.

Read Sydney Star Observer's article here

:: PROFESSOR DENNIS ALTMAN TO OPEN SYDNEY EXHIBITION:
In 1971, Dennis Altman published his book Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation - considered an important intellectual contribution to the ideas that shaped Australia's gay liberation movement. In 2005, he also published Gore Vidal's America, a study, as the title suggests, of Gore Vidal and his writings on history, politics, sex, and religion.

In 1985, Altman accepted an appointment at La Trobe University, where he later became Professor of Politics; he was appointed the visiting Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University from January 2005.

:: ROSS WATSON BNEWS COVER STORY:

Ross is featured on the January 24 cover of BNews - Melbourne Star.

View BNews cover page and story

Ross and Elton recorded a JOY Melbourne Radio I.D. after Elton learnt of the station, and how it was the first (and after the demise of a gay and lesbian station in Sydney), remains the only one of it's kind in Australia.

Sir Elton John was thrilled to receive from Ross Watson a complete set of photographs from his current Melbourne exhibition - Catalogue XXVII Photographs.

Elton has bought three large photographs from the series for his private collection.

Gifted to the ELTON JOHN AIDS FOUNDATION and valued at AUS$30,000, the photographs will be auctioned at Elton's 2007 White Tie and Tiara Ball.

Ross and partner Stephen Morgan, introduced high profile AFL footballers, Brodie Holland and Paul Licuria, to Elton at a back-stage party at his Melbourne concert Sunday 3rd December.

Ross' 2006 London exhibition received the greatest number of visitors, editorial coverage and commissions of any exhibition to date.

The classical references in the paintings caught the attention of the Libraries and Archive Department at The National Gallery in London, who have requested related artwork for their historical records.

:: CABLE TV FEATURE:
Ross' art and career is profiled in the FOX8 Television series OUT & ABOUT (Series 1, Episode 5 - Melbourne), screening in Australia, North America, Europe and the U.K..

:: UNTITLED #17/04 SELECTED FOR NGV COVER:
Ross Watson's painting Untitled #17/04 (after Jacques-Louis David, 1784; featuring Brodie Holland) has been selected for the cover of Issue 1 of the quarterley journal Australian Football. It is this edition that will be used as a souvenir for the National Gallery of Victoria's "The Spirit of Football" exhibition.

View larger image of cover

:: The National Portrait Gallery exhibits Untitled #9/03 (after Coypel, 1709 - Ian Roberts), the museum's board having approved the painting for the permanent collection, which includes portraits of famous Australians - from Cathy Freeman to Kylie Minogue. Featuring Australia's most famous gay man, ex football star, now NIDA Drama Academy graduate, it is the first painting depicting Ian Roberts in the museum's collection.

:: COLLECTOR'S WAITING LIST:
A non refundable AUS$100 registration fee is payable to join this list if you have not previously purchased a Ross Watson painting.
Wait List Collectors will be the first to be offered new paintings before they are featured on the website or in magazine editorials, with the collector at the top of the list at any given time offered first choice.
Please email us your contact details should you wish to be placed on that list.

:: COMMISSIONS:
Paintings may be commissioned and attract a 30% fee (ie. a painting of the size catalogued at $20,000, would be $26,000). As the collector, you will enjoy the opportunity to communicate your favorite themes, classical artists and models. The final concept is arrived at through a process of negotiation between the collector and the artist. The proposed concept must be of relevance to the artist's work, and he reserves the right to decline a proposal. A non-refundable deposit of 50% is required on the commission's commencement, and the balance due on completion after we have forwarded you an image of the painting by email.

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia
Sir Elton John Collection, United Kingdom
Sir William Dobell Foundation, Sydney, Australia
Charles Cholmondeley, London, United Kingdom
Robert Woolley, Sotheby's New York, USA
Allens Arthur Robinson, Sydney, Australia
The Von Engelhardt Collection, Geneva, Switzerland
James D. Wolfensohn, President, The World Bank 1995-2005, Washington DC, USA
David Stevens Collection, Boston, USA
Abbott Tout Russell Kennedy, Sydney, Australia
Pancontinental, Sydney, Australia
Harrods (trompe-l'oeil), London, United Kingdom
Dave Clark Collection, London, United Kingdom
Ian Roberts Collection, Sydney, Australia
Grant Hackett, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Professor Andrew Kaye, Melbourne, Australia
Russell Mulcahy, Sydney, Australia
Leslie Walford, Sydney, Australia
The Hon. Petro Georgiou M.P. Melbourne, Australia
K. Adams Collection, Melbourne, Australia
The Baden Von Bibra Collection, Melbourne, Australia
Dr Brett Archer Collection, Melbourne

HAND CRAFTED FRAMES:
Paintings are framed as illustrated above in hand crafted silver-leaf and gesso frames, complete with an individually coloured slip.

Click here to view larger image of framed painting.