Tony Ellis
Artist Statement
Finding Beauty
“A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera.” —Dorothea Lange
I love the discovery of hidden beauty.
For me, art is about uncovering this beauty and making it available for others to appreciate. It reconnects us to the harmony of the world we live in but often ignore.
The images in Finding Beauty were photographed within a ten-minute walk of the gallery. The were found on dumpsters, doorways, sidewalks and alley walls. Accidental images, formed from a coming together of paint, stain, decay, graffiti and time. They are there to be found by anyone. We walk past them every day of our lives. Extracted from their mundane surrounding and placed on a gallery wall, they become objects of beauty, reminding us that everything in creation has its own dignity and beauty.
It all depends on how we look at it.
—Tony Ellis
Artist Bio
A graduate of West of England College of Art, Tony Ellis spent many years traveling the world before settling in America 27 years ago.
Ellis’ work, which blurs the line between photography and contemporary fine art, has been shown at galleries throughout the Mid-West and is on permanent display at the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the Coralville campus of the University of Iowa, and in a number of private collections.
For more information visit: www.tonyellisart.com.
