Earthly Delights by Amy Ross
10"x8" ($24) | 14"x11" ($60) | 20"x16" ($240) | 30"x24" ($1200)
If you’re rounding up your crew for a Thanksgiving kick back this Thursday, what’s motivating you (besides mashed potatoes)? We’ve been thinking on that (and also mashed potatoes). It’s impossible to extract the holiday from its profoundly problematic history, but some folks have developed their own traditions around gathering to express gratitude, turning this annual festival on the fourth Thursday of November into a meaningful moment of connection and reflection. For us, it’s about hanging with family and chosen family, sowing some togetherness, and giving big ups to earth’s beauteous fall bounty. It’s a harvest holiday! And who doesn’t like a holiday for which pie is a prerequisite?
One thing we’re especially thankful for is art that puts the natural world on a pedestal, that celebrates our wonderful, weird, interwoven web of life. Art like our new edition from OG 20x200 artist Amy Ross—the exceptional, delectable Earthly Delights.
Ross isn’t just a longtime member of the 20x200 fam. Her Manshroom was the very first edition we ever released over a decade ago. The Boston-based artist has been making her elegantly anthropomorphized collages of flora and fauna all the while, and they’ve evolved in interesting ways over the years. An exquisite assemblage of ambulatory fruits and vegetables, Earthly Delights exhibits a punchier color palette that makes for a plush, eye-catching print. A bright, perky persimmon, foot popped, a morel mid-jig, an asparagus pair in repose—Ross’s humanized harvest celebrates the magic of mama earth and the interconnectedness of all life through whimsical artistic wizardry. It’s the artist’s way of appreciating our shared vulnerability, and blurring our presumed boundaries …
The image was actually commissioned by Vogue (!!!) to accompany a story in their November issue (so you have our cosign to consider yourself a couture-level collector when you opt for this edition). Ross’s hybrid creatures appeal to so many people, and we suspect that’s got something to do with their supernatural vibe. Half human half turnip may not sound like a mythical match, but in Ross’s work that combo has a ethereal edge—these are deities of seed and stem.
Folklore and mythology are abiding interests for this artist, along with a deep respect for nature. Adding those together with her characteristic charm, Ross has created a joyful homage to earth’s offerings. Whether Earthly Delights gets you feeling extra festive or doubly grateful for your full plate, this cool cornucopia is sure to bring the bliss.
