Ken Elliot

Artist’s Statement

These works are the result of my involvement in the art community for 20 years.  My earliest training began by aiding an art restorer in Texas for a short time.  The experience was important in that at the start I was handling well-regarded works of art in a variety of mediums and styles.  I also believe my eye was continually improved by the exposure gained from many years as a picture framer.  I was constantly handling and looking at artworks destined for museums, galleries, and important private collections.

During this period I began to develop a sense of what I felt were important and interesting works of art.  Later I became an art dealer, acquiring high-quality works of art for the gallery and also for my own collection.  When I left Texas for California, I discovered that I had a very stong urge to become a painter.

In California I was fortunate enough to be exposed to the wonderful varieties of the California landscape and also to work in a photography gallery of very high standing in San Francisco.  I began to study and teach myself how to draw and work in pastels.  After a few years of study and practice, I attended a one-month masters painting class taught by the remarkable landscape artist Wolf Kahn.  This class was my first true exposure to the philosophies and strategies of making art as opposed to decoration. 

A few years later I began to make Polaroid image transfers.  This medium brought me from the world of landscapes to the unlimited genre of the camera.  Recently I have been moved to create collages using bits of printed material, and colored strips of paper laid against solid fields of color.

Colorado, USA

Medium:  Pastel (Giclee prints)

Subjects:  Landscape