Thom Ross

Thom Ross is an artist based in Lamy, NM, known for painting, book illustrations, and installation art featuring life-sized cutout figures depicting famous people and historical events.

As a child he became interested in the history of the American Old West[1] by watching television shows such as Bonanza, Rawhide, and Have Gun – Will Travel, as well as John Wayne films.

He decided as an artist to portray iconic American people and events in new ways to bring out a more complex story than the traditional historical myths.

[3] In 1998 Ross created "The Defining Moment" for SAFECO Field, a tableau of 11 steel cutouts of a Ken Griffey, Junior play in the 1995 baseball playoffs.

[6] In September, 2008 Ross recreated a 1902 photograph of Buffalo Bill Cody and his "Wild West Show", his traveling troupe of Native Americans, in front of the Cliff House at Ocean Beach.