Biography

"I was born in 1952 in New York City and was raised on Long Island, where I still live.

"My early oil paintings were still lifes of food, then lipsticks and high-heels. In an effort to improve my painting, I took figure drawing classes which stimulated my interest in modeling for artists, then painting the figure (my own) myself.

"My figurative paintings gradually became more abstract, until I was painting in a completely abstract manner. Now I paint exclusively abstract oils on canvas and more recently, have added oils on paper to my portfolio.

"I am married and have two grown children."

Artist Statement

"In my work I use the paint to mirror my emotional state, as well as my response to the paint itself on the canvas.

"I apply the paint with brushes and the palette knife, using the knife to throw, spatter, drip and mix the colors on the canvas. I scrape off some or all of the paint, add more paint. Lines are scratched into the paint, get obscured , re-scratched, obscured again. Sometimes I begin with an idea, sometimes the idea is formed as I paint. Working very quickly for a time, I respond to the paint seemingly at the same time as applying it. The colors and shapes compete for space on the canvas as I wrestle with my own internal state. As I continue to paint, what is “inside” appears on the “outside”, while at the same time, the paint on the canvas affects what is “inside”. My internal state changes as a result of my response to what appears on the canvas, until my responses and the paint itself merge to form something new entirely.

"The final result is a “picture” of a moment in time as well as a process, or dialogue between myself and the paint. My wish, in part, is to create an emotional response in the viewer, and that does not have to be the emotions I experienced while painting. Using the paint to help communicate that which cannot be spoken has become endlessly fascinating and thoroughly addictive. I hope never to be cured."

Exhibitions

Ellen Hallie Schiff

Black and White is the New Color

June 6th – 28th, 2014

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Ellen Hallie Schiff

Recent Works on Paper

March 1st – 30th, 2013

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Selected Works

Exploding Mickey Mouse
enamel on paper, 30 x 22 inches

Summer Grays
Oil on paper, 30 x 22 inches