Terra Incognita: Ross M Brown's paintings of billboards, forgotten street art and graffiti

Terra Incognita (or ‘Unknown Territory’) was a term used by early cartographers to describe areas of land which remained undocumented. In our current age of Google maps, GPS navigation and satellite imagery, the notion of an unknown landscape has become an elusive entity.

With his new body of work, artist Ross M Brown has set out to find a contemporary form of Terra Incognita; uncovering a landscape so proximate and everyday it tends to become unnoticed and unknown through sheer familiarity. Approaching subject matter collected in Glasgow and Edinburgh; motorway underpasses, building sites and billboards became the focal point for his painterly exploration.

Brown graduated from the MFA course at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in 2010. His work has received prizes including the NS Macfarlane and Linda Clark Nolan awards from the Royal Scottish Academy (2010, 2008) and has been shortlisted for Saatchi New Sensations and the Griffin Art Prize (2010, 2012).

Terra Incognita will take place at Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, between 6 and 17 July 2017. Discover more at rossmbrown.co.uk / arushagallery.com.

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