Browse through Art by Elliot's exquisite handcrafted art pieces!
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shelf series
Capturing the atmosphere of enclosed spaces is a way in which I can create a sense of safety. To do this, I construct wooden box-like objects to be the subjects of my paintings in order to create the illusion of a three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. While focusing on the interior of the box, the object becomes a small, protective shelter which gives my mind a place of security. This meditative process of translating depth into an image becomes a way of finding safety in a semblance of encasement.
2013-2020
My paintings are a display of how I study and render the interiority of physical space. Through painting, I have time to visually process and understand what I see while re-creating the three-dimensional boxes into flat surfaces. The conversation between painted space and actual space poses a question of what true hollowness is and what is solely a visual assumption of it. Constructed boxes placed next to painted illusions provide a window into the confusion of what is space versus what is not.
reincarnation project
Phase #1 - predestination
This project started as a commentary on the concept of pre-destination; a very common belief circling reformed presbyterian and calvinistic teachings. While I engaged and entertained these ideas in previous moments of my life, I created an art piece to reflect the concept of predestination on a visual level. All forms on this shelf are hand-crafted, but only some are created as vessels, with the ability to be filled with the holy spirit. A commentary on how God creates some to be filled with the holy spirit and others are not. As I progressed and evolved through different belief systems, this piece stuck around with me, and so I thought it perfectly appropriate for the piece to change its form with me.
Phase #1
Phase #2 - Exposure
As I dismantled this piece when it's time had come to an end, I held onto the shelf and figures. I began placing them around campus, my home-town neighborhood, and arranging them in ways that would catch someone's attention. My goal for this phase was to experiment with different forms the forms could experience, exposing them to different purposes other than their original intention. Through doing so, I was placing myself in new settings and allowing my own self to exist as a new and different thing.
Phase #2
Phase #3 - death
As my religious beliefs changed throughout my life, so did my attitude towards this art piece. I began to hate the message I created and no longer believed in. In order to adapt the piece to my present emotions, I removed the white figures (the ones destined to be vessels filled with the holy spirit) and I buried them in my parent's backyard. This symbolized the leaving behind of old and outgrown belief systems as I have gone no contact with them for several years. After chopping the shelf in half with an ax, I took the rest of the figures, the ones originally "destined for hell," and gave them a new purpose. Some were displayed on the improved shelf, and some were buried in a pile of dirt underneath, symbolizing the cycle of rebirth we constantly go through while evolving throughout life.
Phase #3
While I no longer own the shelf these figures once stood on, I do still have the entire collection of brown clay figures in my studio. I'm hoping to soon establish them in their final form.