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March 05, 2007

Ellen Harvey.. one artist to watch!

Ellen_harvey_invisible_self_portrait_bluYou may not know NYC based artist Ellen Harvey yet.. but we think this is one amazing woman to watch. 
We first caught a quick glimpse of Ellen's work at Pulse Miami this year.  At Pulse, she was one of the featured project artists, and where we witnessed four of her Invisible Self-Portraits sell to three important  collectors within the first 10 mins of the fair preview.

(Photo #1, Invisible Self-Portrait, Blue Bathroom, 2006, Oil on wood panel each 22" x 24")

These Polaroid looking paintings are all self portraits painted from actual Polaroid photo's. We found these self portrait paintings simple, but yet elegant. They provoke a mysterious feeling of modesty or possibly shyness from this painter. Immediately they clearly had distinct references to numerous works by famed female photographers Nan Goldin and Cindy Sherman, but with a painters eye and flare.

If you find these somewhat familiar...you may have been lucky enough to see Ellen Harvey's work. It was recently displayed and quickly purchased by one huge collector at
The Armory Art Show (by the shockingly unfriendly people) at Galerie Gebruder Lehman. There were a few more of her paintings at Pulse with the very insightful Magnus Muller Gallery from Berlin .

Ellen_harvey_luxe_galleryBut they are also currently featured in 2 different shows around NYC.

- Frist, Ellen Harvey has a new solo show "The Museum of Failure" at The Luxe Gallery at 57th street. It's up till March 20th. (Photo #2, The Collection of Impossible Subjects, 8' x 12', hand-engraved mirror)

The show features a large rear-illuminated Etched Mirror light-box. AMAZING! You have to see it to understand it!  We previously saw some of her Mirror work at a show in Philly at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art last summer. This project totally blew us away impressed us.. But if you missed it (like who'd ever go to Philly to look at art!!).. there's also a cool book out by DAP of this project.

- Secondly, you can also see several examples of Ellen's Invisible Self-Portrait paintings at "The Unsung Show" which has been astutely curated by Dan Cameron at the Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery.. (in NYC Chelsea). It's a pretty big group exhibition.. but Ellen's work completely steals the show! IMO!  The Unsung show is only up till March 16th, You don't want to miss it!

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Finger on the pulse.

Do you own work by Ellen Harvey? Your enthusiasm is suspect. If not, I apologize, but if you do you should have admitted it in your praise.

do we stop the praise after we have bought ? Do you think it becomes self serving at that point ? I buy what I love and talk about what I love ...not for any gain just because it make me happy.I understand the question and understand the need to ask.One of the things that bug me most about the new art world is art is becoming like trading cards.Maybe that is why 401ks need to suffer for a while so some art collectors will become afraid enough to think about what they are doing. Enough musing did any one read the NY Times article about new art collectors over this weekend.

I love Ellen's work, truly, and she's a lovely person, but it's interesting that she's only getting this kind of attention now. She's been making those bathroom paintings for at least 5 years now.

Edward in most cases it took time for an artist be know sometimes a life time .I wonder how long can we substain so many artist with a A. I some times wonder when will Janson be publison in 26 volumes with 1990-2007
being vols 3-26

Whether for monetary gain or personal/ideological gain. Everything everyone does, says or writes has alterior motives. It's not bad to question why MAO is "pushing" this artist. But if he does own it - it would make sense that he owns it because he likes it - so it makes sense that he talks about it in a positive manner. (just like people talk positively about stocks they own) You can invest & spend your money on anything you want. So even if art collectors have hopes that their work gains in price, most of them wouldn't bother collecting this stuff if there wasn't also for a true appreciation for it. It's much easier and more liquid to buy and sell stocks if all you care about is money.

You know it is unfortunate that art appreciaton often becomes so closely tied to money. There are a lot of artists I like but I just can't afford to buy their work unless I feel I can at get most of my money back in case I need to sell it. Sad, but so it goes.

Yes.. We at MAO buy what we LOVE!!

So, To all readers.. In the future, please assume.. any artist we at MAO babble on in any favorable manor.. there is most probably atleast one example of the artists work in the MAO family collection..
Examples... Chris Dorland, Kehinde Wiley, Ryan McGinley, Kota Ezawa, Ellen Harvey, AVAF, Brian Ulrich, Sarah Pickering, bla.. bla.. bla..etc..

Actually.. for complete disclosure.. in many cases artists who's work we have criticized are frequently in the MAO collection as well..

So.. Sometimes we buy what we love to hate, too.. go figure!
Examples.. Chris Jordan, Candida Hoffer, Atta Kim, etc..

I appologize for any omissions.

Ellen Harvey.. very nice work.

I'd guess most people have not heard of Ellen Harvey before because she's not represented by some hot young over-hyped 27th street Chelsea NYC NADA gallery !!

Hence she's not been talked up by the NY Times, New Yorker, or even Artforum.

MAO: It's astounding that you buy art that you like and *don't* like. I have to settle for buying only stuff that I like!

No, MAO only buys what MAO likes. MAO's tastes just eventually get better (If I had his fancy "line through the words" capability, I would cross out "get better" and replace it with mature, but I don't). This is true with all collectors. They all grow and realize something they originally liked is actually just complete crap (line through "Complete Crap" and "not necessarily their taste anymore"). Wouldn't you just love to look under MAO's bed to see all those horrific purchases (Changed tastes in art) =;>)

So, Kenny T., does MAO come to hate the work because you live with it? That is, are you more able to see the work's drawbacks because of living with it, or is it simply a process of growing up and developing a different way of seeing things??

Everybody's tastes change. Kind of like that little snore was "Cute" when you first started dating but now that it keeps you up all night when you have an important meeting the next day you want to kill the snorer. Unfortunately, un-like people, the art stays the same and can't necessarily control it's relevance in the world. You can tell your partner to roll over but no matter how hard MAO tries, that Blue Dog painting he bought in the French Quarter will all be sitting on all fours, drooling, staring back at him. (really, I swear I saw a Blue Dog painting in the back of his closet once).

ellen harvey... good. that was a good choice.

ellen harvey... good. that was a good choice.

I love Ellen Harvey's work, and have for the past 8 years or so. It's amazing that she's re-emerging as a new talent after creating so much great work for all these years. Good for her!

if you like them check out http://jeanineheller.com

She is my new favorite

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