Ross Caliendo (b. 1988, Pittsburgh, PA) is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. His practice centers on perception and the material possibilities of painting, using the structures of the natural world as a framework to investigate color, vision, and sensory intensity through a responsive, intuitive process. In his layered oil paintings on canvas, figurative touchstones orient and anchor the composition, guiding us beyond recognizable forms into a heightened field of seeing.

Caliendo’s practice has evolved from early abstraction toward a naturalistic figurative vocabulary while retaining a commitment to formal experimentation. His compositions are amalgamations of real and imagined places, where realism gives way to the hypnagogic and otherworldly as he transforms natural motifs into sites of perceptual inquiry. Forests, horizons, and bodies of water hover between abstraction and figuration, dissolving into charged energetic fields that prioritize sensation over description. Rather than treating landscape as subject matter, he uses it as a structural armature for painterly exploration, testing the relationship between surface and depth and the ways color and form cohere in the eye of the perceiver. In this sense, nature becomes a substrate for invention, inviting a heightened perceptual encounter in which the boundaries between figure and ground, image and abstraction continuously fluctuate. The work is less concerned with representing the visible world than with conjuring the act of seeing itself.

Central to his process is an approach he describes as “painting backwards.” Often structured around limited or near-monochromatic palettes, his compositions are built gradually through layers of paint over bright underpaintings, then carved with brushes and palette knives to reveal underlying colors. Repeating stippling marks, etched lattice lines, and scraped fields echo nature’s fractal architectures, generating tonal vibration as warm tones advance and cool tones recede. This push and pull between surface and depth creates a sense of motion and rhythm. Through this accumulative process, Caliendo foregrounds the mechanics of painting itself, revealing how perception is shaped by these marks, textures, and colors. Drawing on traditions of Neo-Impressionism and Divisionism, and informed by Munsell color theory, he employs calculated, saturated systems of color while allowing intuition and unpredictability to guide each work’s evolution.

Living in Los Angeles for over a decade, Caliendo draws inspiration from the region’s abundant open and wild spaces, absorbing the psychic and ecological energies of his surroundings without referencing specific sites.

Caliendo received his BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 2011. His solo exhibitions include Night Gallery (Los Angeles), Asia Art Center (Taipei), Loyal (Stockholm), CVG Foundation (Beijing), Ross+Kramer (New York and Miami), and Grifter (New York). His work has been included in group exhibitions at K11 Musea (Hong Kong), Pace Prints (New York), Anthony Gallery (Chicago), Night Gallery (Los Angeles), Loyal at El Royale (Los Angeles), Moskowitz Bayse (Los Angeles), SPURS (Beijing), and Fores Project (London), among others.

Education

2011 BFA Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH

Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions

2025
Peace Fellow, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2024
Twin Habit, Ross+Kramer Gallery, Miami, FL
Dawn Chrous, Asia Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Dusk Ritual, Gloucester Arts Club, Hong Kong

2023
Horizon Pupil, Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden
Independent Art Fair, Ross+Kramer, New York, NY

2022
Ross Caliendo: Realm, CVG Foundation, Beijing, China
Tanning the Hides, Ross + Kramer Gallery, East Hampton, NY

2021
Forever & Ever, Ross + Kramer Gallery, New York, NY
Silence Choir, Grifter, New York, NY

2020
In The Morning the Night Kisses the Day Goodbye, No Place Gallery, Columbus, OH

2019
The Devil’s Compost, Phil Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2016
Tomorrow, Mayeur Projects, Las Vegas, NM

Group Exhibitions

2024
Art Basel Miami, Pace Prints, Miami, FL
Art Basel Miami, Night Gallery, Miami, FL
Come One, Come All, Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL

2023
The Descendents, K11 Foundation, Hong Kong
Brick by Brick, Ross+Kramer, New York, NY
CHART Art Fair, Loyal, Copenhagen, Denmark
Oak House, Fernberger Gallery, Newport, Rhode Island
Over Land & Sea, Hunter Dunbar Projects, New York, NY
El Royale, Loyal at El Royale, Los Angeles, CA

2022
I Dwell In Possibility, Spurs Gallery, Beijing, China
Fores Project Residency Exhibition, London, England
Life In An Ivory Tower, Curated by Jack Siebert, New York, NY
The Views 2, Moskowitz Bayse, Los Angeles, CA
Shrubs, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2021
Run With The Wolves, The Pit, Glendale, CA
Summer Summer Group Show, Ross + Kramer, East Hampton, NY
The Devil’s Bathtub, No Place Gallery, Columbus, OH
All That Spring Promises, Tyler Park Presents, Los Angeles, CA
The Forest And The Sea, Five Car Garage, Santa Monica, CA

2020
A Peripheral Reverie, Penske Project, Montecito, CA

2019
The Views, Fisher Parrish Gallery, New York, NY
Cultivate (w/ Free The Land), Insect Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2018
Paradise, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Sister, Phil Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Annex, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Keeper Of A Fever, No Place Gallery, Columbus, OH

2017
Apocalypse Summer, Itd gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Trout Fishing in America, City Limits Gallery, Oakland, CA
Sleepers, Hel Gallery, New York, NY
Painter’s Painters Painting, Dread Lounge, Los Angeles, CA

2016
Tomorrow, Today (w/ Phil & Phil), Phil Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Volkfest der Künstler Benefit, Organized by Nick Fisher, Los Angeles, CA

2015
T.D.W: Party in Back, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
Tribal Tats, Arturo Bandini, Los Angeles, CA
Tiny Masters, Egyptian Art &Antiques, Los Angeles, CA

2014
Another Cats Show, 356 S Mission Rd, Los Angeles, CA
Viridian Art Prize, Viridian Gallery, New York, NY
Louie Louie, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA
No New Friends, Sunday, Los Angeles, CA

2013
Stray Hat, Secret Recipe, Los Angeles, CA
Slow Thaw: Soft Blanket, Skylab Gallery, Columbus, OH

Collections

St Louis Art Museum, St Louis, MO
CVG Foundation, Beijing, China
K11 Foundation, Hong Kong
Victoria Collection, Johannesburg and Miami