David A. Ross Resigns From School of Visual Arts After Epstein Revelations
In January 2015, years after Epstein’s conviction, the former museum leader told him that he was “still proud” to call him a friend.
David A. Ross, chair of the School of Visual Arts (SVA) MFA Art Practice Department for 17 years, has resigned from his post following the Department of Justice's release of his extensive email exchanges with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Much of the newly revealed correspondence dates from the period during and years after Epstein’s conviction, including an email from January 2015 in which Ross stated that he was “still proud” to call Epstein a friend and that it was “depressing” to see Epstein “once again being dragged through the mud.”
A spokesperson for SVA confirmed that the school is aware of the communications between Ross and Epstein, and said in a statement shared with Hyperallergic that it “has accepted Mr. Ross's resignation effective immediately.”
Ross’s resignation comes after SVA students and alumni circulated calls for the school to sever its relationship with him over his email exchanges with Epstein, released among millions of documents concerning the sex offender’s crimes.
The public records of Ross’s correspondence and involvement with Epstein date as far back as 1999, and include flight logs and sympathetic email exchanges related to Epstein’s 2008 conviction and jail sentence.
On July 22, 2009, the day Epstein was released from jail after being convicted in Florida on charges including soliciting prostitution from a minor, Ross embraced Epstein’s release.
“Ah...just about to email you a welcome home! glad the nightmare is over, Jeffrey... it was an undeserved punishment foisted upon you by jealous creeps,” Ross wrote to Epstein. “Looking forward to seeing you, here, there, or somewhere. now get some rest! let's speak soon.”
In another email exchange, from October 2009, Epstein discussed mounting an exhibition featuring images of minors.
“I might want to fund an exhibition entitled statutory.. girls and boys ages 14 - 25.. where they look nothing like their true ages. Juvenile mug shots. , photo shop, make up. some people go to prison because they can't tell true age. controversial . fun. maybe it should be a web page , with hits, tallied,” Epstein wrote to Ross.
Ross appeared to embrace Epstein’s exhibition idea and suggested speaking later that day.
“You are incredible,” Ross replied. “This would be a very owerful [sic] and freaky book. Do you know that total porno commercial kiddie picture of Brooke Sheilds that Richard Prince appropriated for an exhibition in the early 1980's?”
Ross also communicated with Epstein while he was still in jail, according to the emails released last week. Epstein was able to leave jail and spend most days in his office as part of his sentencing.
“Teaching at SVA tonight - senior seminar, preparing these young artists for the real world that awaits them. How fucking ironic can you get!” Ross wrote to Epstein in April 2009.
He also boasted about his art-world accomplishments, including his tenure as editor-at-large at FLYP magazine, but signaled financial troubles.
“I'm enjoying this new identity, but it may be short-lived if I can't figure out a way to help turn this into a real business,” Ross said in an email shortly before Epstein’s release.
“I've also been hired as special asistant to the president of SVA (School of Visual Arts) to help them think through a new low-res graduate program,” Ross wrote in a July 2009 email. “Trying to figure out how to recoup the $200,000 Fm owed by my former 'partner' in London, who has filed for the British equiv of chapter 11.” It was not immediately clear which London enterprise Ross was referring to in his email.
Ross was named chair of SVA's MFA Art Practice program in 2009 after holding multiple executive roles at art museums across the country. He served as director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, for nearly a decade, from 1982 to 1991; the Whitney Museum of American Art until 1998; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art until 2001. In 2008, Ross also co-founded the auction data platform MutualArt.
The news of Ross’s resignation comes amid a wave of revelations related to Epstein and his ties to figures in the arts, culture, and higher education. Artist Jeff Koons confirmed in a statement to Hyperallergic this week that he attended a dinner at Epstein’s house after emails showed that Koons and his wife had agreed to join a 2013 party at the invitation of Neil Gershenfeld.
