Organized in Conjunction with the MSV Display of the New Exhibition
Superheroes and Superstars: The Works of Alex Ross
Winchester, VA 03/23/17…Alex Ross fans will have the opportunity to meet the artist at a free signing event from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) in Winchester, Virginia.
This rare public appearance — the only scheduled signing for Alex Ross in 2017 — is organized in conjunction with the display of the new exhibition Superheroes and Superstars: The Works of Alex Ross.
The MSV is the first venue to host this traveling exhibition, which has been organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. On view in Winchester through May 14, 2017, the exhibition’s MSV display is sponsored by Shenandoah
Country Q102.
A lithograph of Ross’s The World’s Greatest Superheroes ($50) will be released at the April 1 signing. Painted in 2005 and on view in Superheroes and Superstars, the work features DC Comics’ most recognizable superheroes. In addition to the new print, a variety of Alex Ross merchandise will be available for purchase in the Museum Store, including books ($25–$200), mini-canvasses ($150), and a limited supply of prints ($50–$99). A signed, framed set of Ross’s Yellow Submarine giclée portraits of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison is also available for purchase at the MSV ($1,500). The Museum Store will open at 9 a.m. on April 1.
Before or after meeting Alex Ross, attendees are encouraged to see Superheroes and Superstars: The Works of Alex Ross in the Museum’s Changing Exhibition Gallery. The exhibition presents more than 100 original works created by Alex Ross, all on public display for the first time. Most of the works in the exhibition are on loan from Ross’s personal collection.
Superheroes and Superstars features Alex Ross’s well-known images of superheroes, villains, and his recent paintings of popular culture icons, such as The Beatles and Monty Python. Paintings, sketches, and models from his childhood and college years are also on view, including “Spidey” booklets that Ross created at the age of four, action figures he made when he was 11 years old, and a self-portrait for a high school art class. Some of Ross’s more recent works in the exhibition include A Tale of Two Reeves, a 2016 painting illustrating the two actors audiences most identify with Superman; the 2016 Hulk Marvelmania poster painting; Flash Gordon, a 2015 painting marking the 35th anniversary of the Flash Gordon film; and Ross’s variant cover for Star Wars #1, an homage to the original 1977 issue for Marvel’s relaunch of the classic Star Wars comic book series.
Those interested in attending the April 1 signing event may bring up to three items per person (no sketches and/or portfolio reviews). While a fee is not required to attend the signing and meet Alex Ross, MSV admission will apply to view Superheroes and Superstars.
Snacks and drinks are available for purchase in the Museum Store and Winchester’s Jack Knuckle Gourmet Food Truck will be at the MSV from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on the day of the signing.
A regional cultural center, the MSV is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV includes galleries, the Glen Burnie House, and seven acres of gardens. The galleries and exhibitions are open year-round; the house and gardens are open April through December. The site is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. January through March). Admission is $10 or $8 for seniors and youth ages 13 to 18. General admission is always free to youth ages 12 and under and to MSV Members. Thanks to sponsor Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc., admission is free to all every Wednesday. Additional details are available at www.theMSV.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235. –END–
About Alex Ross:
Alex Ross was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1970 and raised in Lubbock, Texas. At just three years of age, he was drawing television commercials from memory. By the time Alex Ross was 13, he was drawing and scripting comic books. At the age of 17, Ross enrolled in the American Academy of Art in Chicago.
Alex Ross began his professional career as a storyboard artist for an advertising agency. When he was 19, Alex Ross received his first comic book assignment from NOW Comics – to illustrate the comic book series, Terminator: The Burning Earth. Five years later, Ross created the illustrations and cover art for Marvels (1994), a comic book series co-written by Kurt Busiek which featured Marvel’s central characters, such as Spider-Man, the Human Torch, Captain America, and Galactus. His sophomore project, Kingdom Come (1996), was a comic book series in which an alternate DC Universe is filled with aging superheroes, including Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Green Lantern, who come out of retirement to fight a new generation of superhuman beings.
Alex Ross won the Comic Buyer’s Guide Award for Favorite Painter seven times in a row, resulting in the retirement of the category.
In recent years, Ross has applied his artistic skills to outside projects with comic book roots, including a limited-edition promotional poster for the Academy Awards. In 2015, Alex was chosen by Apple Corps LTD to be commissioned as the first artist in more than 30 years to paint the Fab Four. Driven by the legendary music of The Beatles and inspired by the generation’s new trends in art, Yellow Submarine is a classic of animated cinema. Alex has often been referred to as “the Norman Rockwell of comics.” Even so, his Yellow Submarine artwork reveals the similarly powerful influence of master surrealist Salvador Dali, whom Alex has also recognized as a guiding influence on his style.
