Title: Astronaut – The Moonshine Edition
Size: 10 inches
Medium: Ceramic, hand painted with 23 carat gold lustre. Edition of 30. Available in a variety of colours.

Additional Information
The Astronaut first emerged from a series of characters I was creating in drawings and paintings during the 1990’s . It gradually took on a life of it’s own sometimes appearing in a whole variety of of settings and materials. On the surface there is a childlike, cartoon like simplicity but the character is enigmatic, timeless and mysterious -an explorer standing with one foot in this world and one foot in another. There is an obvious sci fi element yet the figure is decidedly low tech - primitive yet futuristic at the same time - a timeless icon part ancient part modern- a next generation Gormley - something of the Romanticism of Caspar David’s Friedrich’s the Wanderer - standing on the hill gazing at the beauty of it all and lost in time : a  journey that is as much through inner space as it is outer.

About the Artist


Arran Ross is a Scottish artist whose output encompasses Sculpture, Painting and Photography. A previous winner of the Pollock Krasner  and JD Fergusson Awards, he also taught at Edinburgh College of Art.

I am best known for the Astronaut”, the central nomadic character in an epic narrative, which began life in the Mid to Late 1990’s. This alter ego creation leads us on a pilgrimage, a journey through inner space as much as any Outer One. It’s a contemporary parable or rather series of, on the theme of escape, told in sculptural, photographic and painted form which brings to mind classics such as Dante’s Inferno, Gullivers Travels, fused with more recent influences, Kubrick, Bowie and like modern day Manga shares a similar kind of cartoon like, Apocalyptic edge.

 This is best encapsulated by the 2359 series originating in 2018, an Apocalyptic safari, with the Astronaut appearing, simultaneously, in various settings throughout the Earth, at a point in time, ominously close to midnight which, metaphorically speaking, parallels where we seem to be ourselves, as a species.  And while we ponder our escape beyond the stars, it’s worth considering that our Spaceman friend has quite possibly escaped or returned back here himself, to Planet Earth, the only oasis we know of yet in the Universe.