Ross Ritchie paints in many tongues. Each of his series simultaneously creates and defines its own visual universe, often by first finding his footing in the footsteps of some of his giant predecessors. With inspiration as diverse as Leger and Bacon, Rauschenberg and Degas, Ritchie knows what he likes when he sees it. Instead of mimicking, however, Ritchie defies the traits of his heroes of the abstract expressionist movement, for example, and rejects that his visions must be limited to a particularly narrow style.