Through the end of July we are elated to display a new series by a mysterious local artist who simply goes by eLLe.
A mixed media triptych in crayon, marker, ink, and paint, on kraft paper, mounted on plywood.
“Read it left to right.
The mouth begins as a child’s idea of a mouth, coloring-book flat, crayon-bright, a smile learned before it was chosen.
Across the surface it practices: lines break, paint moves in over the crayon without erasing it, the teeth separate, the lips take on weight, and the drawing comes to life as the person does.
By the right edge the mouth is fully real, and only then does the cigar appear, rendered with the most care of anything on the paper.
It is not a vice and it is not rebellion.
It is fluency – the first pleasure chosen entirely for oneself, held in a mouth that finally knows how to speak.”
THE BROWN BAG SERIES
The Brown Bag Series is read left to right. All three pieces are on recycled shipping paper, reminiscent of the same paper that carries school children’s lunches.
A gray shape moves through all three pieces and tracks the artist’s transformation, from childhood to coming of age to adulthood. It starts as a weight, becomes a breath, and ends as a glow.
I. SMALL ATLAS
From the artist:
A child holding up a house the way Atlas held the world. When adult responsibilities land on a child, it’s called parentification, and this is what it looked like for me: the house heavy in thick black marker, its weight falling on my shoulders as I strained to keep our family together. The child in the piece bleeds crayon down the page holding up what was handed to her. The child is locked outside a facade of a home, the doorknob on the far side of the door, just out of reach. The gray circle around the house is all she carries.
II. LEARNING TO SPEAK
From the artist:
The mouth starts on the left as a child’s idea of a mouth, coloring-book flat, a rehearsed smile left over from childhood that echoes years of saying, “No, everything is fine!”
Across the surface it grows into itself as the owner of the mouth transforms. Paint moves in over the crayon without erasing it, the teeth separate, the lips take on weight, and the drawing comes to life as I did. The cigar only appears once the mouth is fully real.
Smoking isn’t a vice, and it isn’t rebellion. It’s fluency; learning how to speak for myself and learning confidence in who I am. The first pleasure I chose entirely for myself.
The gray pop art dots are rigid remnants of the younger me; a burden slowly letting go as I am transformed.
III. FIRST WORDS: YOU ARE HERE
From the artist:
Norfolk is home. Not the house from the first piece, but the one I found after it: friends that feel like family, community, and this neighborhood.
Up close, the waffle pattern is a real street map drawn in colored pencil. Hampton and Colley run through it. The shaded blocks are the places and people that are special to me.
Ice cream this cold actually smokes. The steam here is the exhale from the mouth beside it, white and clean by the time it arrives. The smoke circles the scoop one last time, more glow than weight now. The blue crayon, the color of the child from the first piece is back too, swirled through the ice cream. Small Atlas still lives in me, but I have the benefit of healing and an adult’s perspective. The sweetness is new.
ARTIST BIO ::
eLLe works with humble materials and is most inspired by the hard, private things people work through.
Her work explores the growth and softness that can come after these hardships.
TO PURCHASE ::
DM the artist on Instagram at @elle.brownbag
On display at The Gallery At Elation all month long.
To be featured, please use the application form on our contact page or in the footer below.
