Front Room Gallery is proud to present “North of Piney Acres,” a solo exhibition of works on paper by Ross Racine. In this series, Racine depicts realistic aerial views of fictional suburban communities, which amplify an awareness of modern choices in building and living styles. Racine employs common structural archetypes in his compositions, with an expanded view that exaggerates the rational utility of these imagined infrastructures.

Ross Racine creates these visions of hyper-real suburban landscapes and structures with a uniquely developed digital drawing method. These works on paper present structural layouts of invented subdivisions, which illustrate the insulated conditions common in these types of developments. Using an omniscient viewpoint from above, Racine creates intricate layouts of communities that are filled with nuanced detail. The aerial atmosphere of each work presents a particular mood that matches its character. In certain works looming clouds shadow the buildings below, while others have light airy clouds drifting above, creating a feeling of omniscient subjectivity.

In Racine’s piece “Elmwood and Oaklawn,” endless rows of streets run parallel to each other with only a small slip of undeveloped land separating the compact areas of development. There is an intense believability in this work; the structures and layouts are so plausible in their realism that it is not until further investigation that you realize that the streets do not connect and each row is isolated from its neighbors just one block over.

Ross masters this play between the tangible reality of suburbia and the illusionary realm, concisely depicting the disconnection between desire and its actualization, questioning the feasibility and logic in fulfilling dreams of more space, the luxury of easy access to stores and goods, a neighborly atmosphere, and the overarching attraction to “more”.