Artwork: Witch Hazel, 2016.
Since childhood, American artist Scott Daniel Ellison has had a fascination with the unknown, creating magical and mysterious worlds that combine natural and supernatural forces to compelling effect. Growing up in rural New York State, he would often search the meadows, farms, and ponds behind his house looking for animals, bones, ruins, and anything else that might excite—both real and imagined.
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This curiosity still inspires much of his artistic work to date, most recently a new exhibition of work, Scott Daniel Ellison: Witch Hazel, now on view at ClampArt, New York, through July 8, 2016. The show, his fifth at the gallery and arguably his most impressive to date, presents a loose narrative of beasts, monsters, and ghouls drawn from personal experiences and fantasies.
Werewolf, 2016
Many works germinate in a favorite scene from classic horror film, spawning an aesthetic response so singular and charming, we are instantly drawn in. Trained as a photographer who counts Diane Arbus and Ralph Eugene Meatyard as early influences, Ellison’s world is as quirky as it is singular. There is a perverse sense of fun and merriment in the work, much like the horror films themselves. There is an underlying sense that this is all very tongue-in-cheek, that part of the thrill of monsters is the fact that we know they are imaginary. As such, they act as we wish them to—and for Ellison, their actions are epic yet innocent, much like children cavorting in costume on Halloween.
Yet, there is a deeper ambiguity that underlies the work, one that recognizes the essential nature of horror in and of itself. It is there, to be reckoned with, one way or another, whether we want to—or not.
Worm, 2015
Art critic Scott Indrisek writes in the exhibition catalogue, “These paintings want to cast a spell, but I’m still wondering, Is it a black or white sort of magic? Part of the problem is that they seem so innocent….At the same time these paintings can at times remind me of illustrations meant for children—but in the vein of Edward Gorey’s gothic vision. Spending time with them can be like finding yourself lost in the woods as the sun, in increments, starts to set; nature grows sinister in the dark. What was once beautiful, even comforting, reveals its fangs.”
Ellison beautifully occupies this space of transition with effortless grace, luring us in with the promise of something that inherently understands the complex interplay of dark and light energies. There is no sense of a beginning or an ending, but rather the sense of timelessness, much in the same way that dreams are on-going states of existence. Witch Hazel is a portal into another world, one that is both foreign and familiar, as the uncanny so often is.
Flora, 2016
All artwork: ©Scott Daniel Ellison, courtesy of ClampArt, New York.
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
