Jesse Ross | common nitrogenous waste

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Jesse Ross, “We are continually haunted by the animal,” 2025

oil and acrylic on canvas, 65 x 40 x 1.5 in (courtesy of the Gallery)

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 22 from noon - 4 PM. The artist will be in attendance.

In alchemy, “stone and water” are fundamental materials of transformation. In the alchemist’s hands, the excremental becomes the substantial—fuel for growth, change, and hope. For Ross, painting draws from the same deep well, operating at the boundary between scientific inquiry and spiritual hunger.

A key substance in both alchemical practice and Ross’ recent work is ammonia, a volatile chemical that emerges from the breakdown of organic matter—plants, animals, and bacteria alike. A natural byproduct of metabolism, ammonia is expelled from our bodies through urine, earning it the designation of a “common nitrogenous waste.”

In creating this body of work, Ross engages in the age-old alchemical act of sublimating common waste through failure, experimentation, and intuition. The homuncular forms that emerge are rendered in paint, time, sweat and a drive towards understanding.