With his unique blend of humor and technical invention, Brooklyn based artist David Ellis’s latest show “True Value” explores the artists love for music in a variety of art genres and media, including painting, sculpture, and video installation.
“Animal” captures the creation of large mural works in time-lapse digital video documenting the growth of marks and strokes of pigment on walls, floors, and other surfaces creating a magical balance of sound and image changing and evolving steadily throughout.
On the other side of the gallery there is a beautiful series of paintings on panel and tobacco-stained paper. Preparing the paper himself, the artist used the natural material for pigment as it resonated with his upbringing in Cameron, North Carolina, an area dense with tobacco fields.
In the main area a series of mixed media paintings done on wood panels showcase the artist’s signature motion swirls along side several “number” paintings, one of which has a secret collaboration as the reverse side of the panel is a KR drip painting also signed and dated. Ellis also creates a series of sculptural works including a large installation created in collaboration with Roberto Lange, built of discarded paint cans and buckets that beat a syncopated rhythm, the piece won the acclaimed PULSE Prize at this years PULSE New York Art Fair.
Another series of sculptures see Ellis using album covers mounted in dense stacks on wood, the covers are “recollected” by the artist into gradient color schemes or according to other criteria. Outside of looking quite striking they also offer that added excitement of recognizing albums you might have in your own vinyl collection.
If you are in NYC make sure to pass by the Joshua Liner Gallery to see this show as Ellis’s work is truly original, True Value runs until January 14, 2012.
True Value (Paint Fukette) from
Joshua Liner Gallery on
Vimeo.
