Influential contemporary artist Ross Bleckner is renowned for his large-scale abstract and figurative paintings that convey themes of change, loss and memory. Using recurring symbolism such as flowers, birds, urns and candelabras, along with patterns like stripes and dots, Bleckner’s immersive works elicit a hypnotic effect while suggesting ideas related to the body, health and disease.
Born in 1949 in New York City, Bleckner later studied at New York University alongside artists such as Chuck Close and Sol LeWitt. He went on to study at the California Institute of the Arts, graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in 1973.
In 1979, he began exhibiting with Mary Boone Gallery. During the 1980s, Bleckner became one of New York’s most prominent emerging artists through paintings that tackled the emotional toll of the AIDS crisis, particularly on the gay community. Bleckner’s powerful works depicting multicolored volumetric circles, or “cells as seen under a microscope,” garnered acclaim from art critics and collectors. In 1995, he became the youngest artist to have a retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
In recent years, Bleckner’s paintings, watercolors and abstract, landscape and still-life prints have continued to capture international attention. His works have been exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Kunstmuseum Luzern in Lucerne, the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern and the Gropius Bau in Berlin.
Bleckner’s art is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of Ross Bleckner’s prints, paintings and drawings and watercolor paintings.
| Average Sold Price |
| $2,650 |
| Styles |
| Materials |
| Related Artists |
Face to the Sun II
By Ross Bleckner
Located in New York, NY
Created by the artist in 2024, Face to the Sun II is an archival pigment print on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper. Hand-signed, dated, and numbered in pencil from th...
Archival Pigment
Bouquet
By Ross Bleckner
Located in New York, NY
Created by the artist in 2024, Ross Bleckner's, Bouquet is an archival pigment print with acrylic paint. Hand-signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 60, the artwork measur...
Acrylic, Archival Pigment
Ross Bleckner, Water Lilies (C.M.)
By Ross Bleckner
Located in New York, NY
Ross Bleckner THE WATER LILIES (C.M.) Year: 2019 Medium: Archival pigment print on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper Size: 42 x 70 inches (107 x 178 cm) Edition: 30 Price: $7,000 Also sold as a set with Floating Red Glowing and contemplative, Ross Bleckner’s work blends abstraction with recognizable symbols to create meditations on perception, transcendence and loss. Ross Bleckner was born in 1949 in New York and grew up in the prosperous town of Hewlett Harbor on Long Island. The first art exhibition he saw—The Responsive Eye, a show of Op art on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965—had a strong impact on him. He decided to become an artist when he was in college, studying with Sol LeWitt and Chuck Close at New York University, where he earned a BA in 1971. Two years later, he completed an MFA at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, where he met David Salle. After moving back to New York, Bleckner purchased and moved into a Tribeca loft building in 1974. Painter Julian Schnabel rented three floors of the building, and the Mudd Club, a nightclub frequented by musicians and artists, occupied space there from 1977 to 1983. Bleckner sold the building in 2004. His first solo exhibition was held in 1975 at Cunningham Ward Gallery in New York. In 1979 he began his long association with Mary Boone Gallery in New York, which championed several of the so-called art stars of the 1980s. In 1981 Bleckner met Thomas Ammann, an important Swiss art dealer who went on to collect his work. Bleckner’s early 1980s Stripe...
Archival Pigment
Ross Bleckner, Dome (Grey)
By Ross Bleckner
Located in New York, NY
Dome, Blue, 2017 Archival pigment inks on Crane Museo Max 365 gsm fine art paper 37 x 34 inches (94 x 86 cm) Edition of 40 Suite of 3 also available for $7500 Ross Bleckner is an i...
Archival Ink
"Chaperone"
By Ross Bleckner
Located in Astoria, NY
Ross Bleckner (American, b. 1949), "Chaperone", Etching and Aquatint in Colors on Paper, 2002, marked "AP3" lower left, signed in pencil and dated lower right, unframed. Image: 26.75...
Paper, Etching, Aquatint
Ross Bleckner, Dome (Blue)
By Ross Bleckner
Located in New York, NY
Dome, Blue, 2017 Archival pigment inks on Crane Museo Max 365 gsm fine art paper 37 x 34 inches (94 x 86 cm) Edition of 40 Suite of 3 also available for $7500 Ross Bleckner is an i...
Archival Ink
Beginners and Others
By Ross Bleckner
Located in Berkeley, CA
Color sugarlift and spitbite aquatints and aquatint. Somerset white paper Image size 20" x 20" Paper size 29" x 28" Edition of 35
Etching
Ross Bleckner, Floating Red
By Ross Bleckner
Located in New York, NY
Ross Bleckner FLOATING RED Year: 2019 Medium: Archival pigment print on Innova Etching Cotton Rag 315 gsm fine art paper Size: 42 x 70 inches (107 x 178 cm) Edition: 30 Price: $7,000 Also sold as a set with Floating Red Glowing and contemplative, Ross Bleckner’s work blends abstraction with recognizable symbols to create meditations on perception, transcendence and loss. Ross Bleckner was born in 1949 in New York and grew up in the prosperous town of Hewlett Harbor on Long Island. The first art exhibition he saw—The Responsive Eye, a show of Op art on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965—had a strong impact on him. He decided to become an artist when he was in college, studying with Sol LeWitt and Chuck Close at New York University, where he earned a BA in 1971. Two years later, he completed an MFA at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, where he met David Salle. After moving back to New York, Bleckner purchased and moved into a Tribeca loft building in 1974. Painter Julian Schnabel rented three floors of the building, and the Mudd Club, a nightclub frequented by musicians and artists, occupied space there from 1977 to 1983. Bleckner sold the building in 2004. His first solo exhibition was held in 1975 at Cunningham Ward Gallery in New York. In 1979 he began his long association with Mary Boone Gallery in New York, which championed several of the so-called art stars of the 1980s. In 1981 Bleckner met Thomas Ammann, an important Swiss art dealer who went on to collect his work. Bleckner’s early 1980s Stripe...
Archival Pigment
| Sold Date | Sold Price | Category | Medium | Creation Year | ||||||
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| $2,650 |
Average sold price of items in the past 12 months |
| $1,500-$3,800 |
| Sold price range of items in the past 12 months |