This Summer DegreeArt.com gallery will host a live portrait studio, you will have the opportunity to sit for a portrait from £40. Launching on 21st July 6-9pm.
Ellie Young explores the relationship of painting to time and the state of flux between different levels of representation within the act of painting. People, and faces in particular, are the subject of her work, challenging the convergence of the dynamic and the static, the fugitive expressions of the face coupled with its more longstanding character. Ellie paints portraits in a timed format, be it 15 minutes, 1 hour or a day.
"I like the idea that what ever I create in that time represents not only the sitter but the precise time we spent together.
"In my studio I am inspired by moments where the face is juxtaposed with something false or inanimate. I tend to paint in series', my ideas are never resolved in a single work but through a group of related images. Google image searches sometimes provide a useful starting point for subject matter. I like the profusion of images on a theme."
Ellie will be available throughout the exhibition duration for longer appointments at the gallery. If you would like more infromation please contact: Isobel@DegreeArt.com.
Read our mini interview on how Ellie Young approaches commission based works.
INTERVIEW WITH ELLIE YOUNG
What’s the most ambitious commission you’ve worked on?
The most ambitious or difficult commission was two double portraits of a couple each holding a chihuahua. It was challenging painting the dog and the people in the same painting, I find painting dogs fun and tend to be more relaxed in this, and so giving the same kind of value to both figures was quite tough.
Are there any challenges involved in creating portraits within a time restraint?
The challenge with working to such tight time restraints is always stopping when the time is up, sometimes I can see how to fix a painting but often don’t get the chance. You don’t have the chance to revisit anything or labour over it, so it feels fresher but sometimes unresolved.
Could you explain why you work in collections?
I tend to work in collections because I like to see how work evolves one from the other and how the pictures relate to each other on the wall (or in my head.) I like to find different ways to paint the same subject. I am a collector of things myself, my house is full of stuff, I think this way of working has always been instinctive to me.
Join us for our opening VIP event 21st July 2016, 6-9pm. The exhibition runs until 8th September 2016, open 12-5pm daily.
