Today we’d like to introduce you to Ken Elliott.
Ken, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
My involvement in the art business has now spanned over 40 years. I began as a picture framer at Arden’s Gallery, then worked alongside an art restorer, became an art dealer, and about 25 years ago, began to draw and paint. In my career, I’ve been fortunate to have seen remarkably good works of art and met some of the best painters in the field.
My focus is the landscape and its rich store of ideas and inspiration. I am compelled to work from the trees, skies, lakes and streams in their endless variations. I don’t try to recreate nature (even Monet said he never got it right) or attempt storytelling. Instead, the works are simplifications and exaggerations of nature. There was a time when I felt the tyranny of the landscape. That is, I felt limited by making pictures of a place. Now, instead of making pictures, I am free to make paintings – art that comes from nature but is far more reliant on the strategies of making good art objects.
Fortunately, I’ve learned that what some would call mistakes are part of the creative process. So, I try to begin boldly, not worrying about mistakes, using more color than might exist in nature, and varying the types of chroma and marks. During the process, I allow my vision and the inevitable missteps to become a part of the emerging image. Some of these missteps will be eliminated and the more delicious ones are incorporated into the process as unintended surprises.
Painting is not a linear, start to finish process for me. I typically have a number of paintings and pastels in progress in the studio. I welcome interruptions. They are also part of the process. If the phone rings, I’m talking and looking at other paintings, gazing out the window, or at photos in the mail order catalog. Sometimes the very solution I’m seeking is found that way. Otherwise, I might continue to focus on the singular canvas in front of me and miss a chance to make it better. All the paintings and little images in view feed each other, offering solutions and more problems. Those paintings that make it out the door have come to a good but sometimes torturous conclusion.
On occasion, I also do monotypes (unique prints,) etchings and collages as a departure from painting. The monotypes are a great departure from working on canvas. With monotypes I’m painting on Plexiglas plates and then the images are run through a press and the image is transferred to paper. The results are unexpected and free. It is exhilarating working under the time pressures of the printer’s studio and I’ve learned a lot from the process. With my collages, I have lately used wine and champagne labels. There is a freedom to making art without the limits of land and sky. With the collage, every edge, color, shape and design is exactly as I want it. The brush and canvas and interlopers here: they change the texture and edges of everything. With the collage, the entire design can be precisely changed by just moving a piece of paper.
Tomorrow in the studio, new oils and pastels will emerge. The fun of it all is that sometimes the pastels become new oils, oils morph into different pastels or prints. All of nature is altered, perfected and abstracted. When I run out of variations to an idea, I’ll go back to nature where all the inspirations and colors for a lifetime are always waiting.
View additional oils, pastels, monotypes, collages, giclee prints, and posters by Ken Elliott, go to: www.kenelliott.com 303-814-1122 Follow Ken at: www.facebook.com/kenelliottfineart
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Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I work mostly in oils, but also in pastels, collage, monotypes, and etchings. I’m doing landscapes in a post-impressionist style. It is the color that draws me in and it provides endless combinations and effects to explore. My landscapes are really a place to try out new ways of combining color.
People tell me there is a sense of calm emerging from the complexity of the subject, akin to poetry.
Artists rarely, if ever pursue art for the money. Nonetheless, we all have bills and responsibilities and many aspiring artists are discouraged from pursuing art due to financial reasons. Any advice or thoughts you’d like to share with prospective artists?
A very successful businessman told me, “If you do something really well, making money is a side effect.”
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Exhibitions (partial):
Selected Exhibitions
2018 Group Show, Hand-Pulled: Mark Lunning’s Open Press
PACE Center, Parker, CO
2018 Group Show, Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
2017 Governor’s Group Show, Loveland Museum, CO
2016 Group Show, Saks Gallery, Denver, CO
2016 Group Show, Arden’s Gallery, Houston, TX
2016 Group Show, Art Gym, Denver, CO
2016 Mirada Fine Art, Indian Hills CO
2015 One Person Show, Arden’s Gallery River Oaks, Houston, TX
2015 Group Show with the Expand Artists: Lone Tree Arts Center, CO
2015 Two-person Show with Kim English, Total Arts, Taos, NM
2015 Group Show, Arden’s Gallery River Oaks, Houston, TX
2015 One-man Retrospective, PACE Center, Parker, CO
2014 Group Show, Denver International Airport
2013 Two-person Show, Madden Museum of Fine Art, Denver, CO
2013 Group Show, Group show at aBuzz Gallery, Aug 2013
2012 Group Show, Madden Museum of Fine Art, Denver, CO
2012 Group Show, Total Arts, Taos, New Mexico
2011 Group Shows, Total Arts Gallery, Taos, NM
2011 Group Show, Madden Museum, Denver, CO
2011 Group Show, Decade Show, Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
2011 Group Show, Michele Mosko, Denver, Exploring Abstraction
2010 Group Shows, Total Arts Gallery, Taos, NM
2009 Group Show, Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
Galleries:
Arden’s Gallery
1631 West Alabama
Houston, Texas 77006
713-522-5281
Attn: Amanda Hoak
www.ardensgallery.com
Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art
403 Canyon Road
Santa Fe NM 87501
505-983-0062
www.dominiqueboisjoli.com
Madelyn Jordon Fine Art
37 Popham Road
Scarsdale, NY 10583
914-723-8738
www.madelynjordonfineart.com
Renjeau Gallery
79 Worcester Rd
Natick, MA 01760
508-655-5121
https://www.renjeau.com
Saks Galleries Cherry Creek
3019 E 2nd Ave.
Denver, CO 80206 map
303-333-4144
http://denverartgalleries.co
Sorelle Gallery
84 Main Street
New Canaan, CT 06840
203-920-1900
www.sorellegallery.com
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kenelliott.com
- Phone: 303-995-1611
- Email: kencelliott@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kencelliott/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kenelliottfineart
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kenelliottart?lang=en
Image Credit:
Ken Elliott
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