Roe Ethridge takes equally from his work as a commercial photographer, and artist. Blurring the lines that separate the two, Ethridge creates images that are simultaneously generic and intimate, often treading between humor and cynicism.
Functioning in tandem, these motivations coalesce into an ongoing investigation into the mechanics of photographs, and their ability to both retreat into the personal, and expand to relay collective experiences. In 2016, the Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati mounted the first comprehensive survey of Ethridge’s work in an American Museum, titled Nearest Neighbor. Other solo exhibitions include Shelter Island, FOAM, Amsterdam, 2016 and Le Consortium, Dijon, 2012, traveled to Museum Leuven, Leuven, 2012. Ethridge has additionally participated in numerous group exhibitions including The Poetics of Place: Contemporary Photographs from the Met Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2016, Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2016, Perfect Likeness: Photography and Composition, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2015, The 2013 Lyon Biennale, Lyon, The Anxiety of Photography, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, 2012, New Photography 2010: Roe Ethridge, Elad Lassry, Alex Prager, Amanda Ross- Ho, Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the 2008 Whitney Biennial, among others.
