Ross Fleming is an artist based in Paisley, Renfrewshire, who graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, Dundee, Recent exhibitions include: ‘SUPERNOVIA’ (duo) in 2016, The Projects Space, Glasgow; ‘SPICEBOYS’ (solo) in 2018 as part of the Burns Unbroke Festival, Summerhall, Edinburgh; ‘flemings lemons’ (solo) in 2020, Intermedia Gallery, CCA Glasgow; ‘Life After Love’ (duo) in 2021, Generator Projects Gallery, Dundee. Currently on the artist residency programme with Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh.

Placing personal and real-world experiences at the centre of his work, Fleming builds multi-sensory environments that challenge established histories. Working primarily in installation, painting, costume and film, Fleming carefully builds his practice around the dynamics of an organic and often collaborative story-telling process. Fleming’s works are characterised by laborious craftsmanship, with meticulous attention to detail. This lends credence and authenticity to the final construction.

Fleming has built a few common rules within his work, which dictate how a project will be perceived – choosing a time period, that allows an idea to be seen through the changing perspective of the past, present, and future. He conflates time and space to create a suggested alternative, messing with the zeitgeistian experience we all know and believe – where accepted truths can be reimagined, or deconstructed, free from the weight of an anchored reality. Blurring the boundary between the real and the imagined, between the collective and personal consciousnesses.

Presenting issues of LGBTQ+ urgency, made digestible when disguised under a veil of theatrical fantasy. This allows a dichotomy of ideologies to flourish, such as themes of rebirth, the prospect of death and redemption – ultimately presenting the work from the perspective of ‘the other’. Often using historical knowledge of the HIV/AIDS era as an archetype within his practice.

Talbot Rice Residents provides time and support for early-career artists based in Scotland within the unique context of Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Edinburgh.

The Talbot Rice Residents programme is part of the Freelands Artist Programme. The Freelands Artist Programme is a five-year programme that supports emerging artists across the UK in partnership with g39, Cardiff,PS², Belfast, Site Gallery, Sheffield and Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh. Further information on this programme is available here.

Image: Ross Fleming, ‘SPICEBOYS’, Burns Unbroke Festival 2018, Summerhall Edinburgh, January 2018