Monday, April 27, 2009

Darrel Ellis







"During his lifetime, Darrel Ellis created a large body of work that was based on family photographs taken by his father, who suffered a brutal death at the hands of careless police officers a month before Ellis was born."
"Working from his father’s photographs, Ellis reworks the imagery, translating it into paintings or drawings, or re-photographing the work and creating collages."(Art In General)

"Ellis used these photographs as the basis for paintings, drawings and photographs that manipulate the imagery through projections on to plaster sculptural reliefs which are then rephotographed and often translated into representational paintings." (Julie Saul Gallery)

Supporting Gallery: http://www.saulgallery.com/chronicle/darrel_ellis.html

I am not as surprised at how many artists use found, family imagery, as I am about how different each artist represents this idea. I have looked at Lorie Novak, Shimon Attie, Deborah Willis, and Cedric Smith, just to name a few. Darrel Ellis is my most recent discovery. He was introduced to his family photographs in the 1980's, after his father's death. Since then, he has used these photographs in many different ways. He has rephotographed, drawn, painted, sculpted from these images to make his own statement.
The first three images were taken from an exhibit of Ellis's. the second set of three are from a series titled, Family Distortions.
This title could very well be the title of my current series. I find it interesting that so many artists feel the need use old family imagery and distort it or change it in some way. The result is usually ambiguous, mysterious, and dark. I had this exact urge with my current work. I was not familiar with any of these artists before I started my research. My ideas and visions were my own. I was not directly inspired by any specific artist before I started.
Although I have many of the same ideas and concepts, as well as some of the same processes, my work doesn't look like any one artist's work. My way of looking at this family imagery is unique and personal. Each artist I have researched has a completely different way of working. Each series of each artist is it's own unique creation.

No comments: