Roe Ethridge

Roe Ethridge, an American artist born in 1969, is a seminal figure in the realm of conceptual photography. A graduate of the Atlanta College of Art, Ethridge currently resides and creates in New York, where he continues to push the boundaries of visual storytelling. Ethridge eloquently states, “A sequence has to sing. It’s not just something to decode and find the true meaning of. I have to feel its harmonies and disharmonies. It’s like a son.” This philosophy underpins his innovative approach to photography, where he deftly navigates the tension between the real and the ideal. By intertwining commercial imagery—including fashion models, products, and advertisements—with intimate glimpses of his personal life, Ethridge blurs the lines between the generic and the individual. His work invites viewers to reconsider the familiar tropes of still life and portraiture through the lens of contemporary image culture. His remarkable talent has garnered commissions from prestigious brands such as Calvin Klein, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton, while his art has been exhibited widely both across the United States and internationally. Ethridge's contributions to the field have been recognized through significant exhibitions, including the New Photography show at the Museum of Modern Art in 2010, his participation in the Whitney Biennial in 2008, and a major retrospective at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati in 2016. He was also shortlisted for the esteemed Deutsche Börse Prize for Photography. As noted by the Museum of Modern Art, Ethridge’s work is characterized by a "visual fugue," where images are artfully shuffled, sequenced, and presented in nonlinear narratives. By combining and recombining recontextualized images, he not only subverts their original roles but also revitalizes their potential meanings. With a mastery of commercial techniques and a profound conceptual sensibility, Ethridge embraces the omnipresence of photography in our increasingly connected world. In his view, the instantaneous nature of image transmission and reception—what he describes as “ecstatic communication”—should be celebrated, not lamented. His art transcends traditional boundaries, challenging distinctions between editorial and fine art, documentary and construction, technology and emotion. Through his lens, Ethridge invites us to explore the complexities of contemporary visual culture with both curiosity and insight.