Clay Ellis: Simple Equations, Sticks, and Mascots for Dirty Little Cities

Ellis’ confounding of sculptural and illusionistic space becomes ever more complex in his most recent body of work. Innovations in his process allow the physicality of paint to become more evident, while keeping the maker’s hand relatively obscured. We encounter the work first as objects in space rather than contained instances of expression. Visceral protrusions convolute fictitious spaces of graphic, high chroma form and pattern, all bound by various sculptural and drawn framing devices. Ellis is interested in the way we swiftly navigate shifting modes of perception in our contemporary image rich world.