Crazy Arrow

These three hand-painted, life-size cutout figures are from Crazy Arrow, a body of work created by Thom Ross in 2020. Originally presented as an outdoor installation near Lamy, New Mexico, Crazy Arrow consisted of twenty brightly painted figures, each approximately seven to eight feet tall. These three are among the last remaining figures from the group and embody Ross’s unmistakable sense of color, movement and spectacle.

Inspired by historic images of Native American warriors shooting arrows into the air, Ross has returned to this image repeatedly, fascinated by its combination of ceremony, courage and sheer visual drama.

The figures are also part of Ross’s decades-long practice of transforming historical imagery into life-size painted installations. Rather than attempting literal historical reconstruction, Ross uses vivid color, exaggerated pattern and flattened forms to pull figures from the past into the present. His cutouts have appeared in ambitious installations ranging from his 2005 recreation of the Battle of the Little Bighorn to his 2008 reimagining of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West troupe on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach.