Damian Elwes is an English-born, American-based artist. He is known for his series of paintings depicting the studios of 20th century masters and for paintings of the natural world that venture beyond the usual boundaries of landscape painting. His work focuses on human creativity and creation in nature, and elucidates his optimism in the power of these forces. He intentionally uses painting, the art form most often surrounded with predictions of its demise, to recreate significant moments of intense creativity.

Work

From 1992-2000, Elwes chose to live in Colombia so that he could make paintings about rain forests. There he created four "dream-sites", paintings so large that viewers can walk around inside them. A floor painting, "Fallen Tree" (1997) describes the cycle of life in one of the last surviving forests of mahogany. In a clearing in the forest, one old tree has fallen to the ground. New saplings can be seen growing from the decomposing tree. This same cycle exists in painting, and in all innovation. So, while this work might be seen as a spur for conscience or the creation of a consciously artificial double, it also contains an indication of Elwes' confidence in the power of creativity. In London, 2010, Damian Elwes exhibited a larger floor painting, describing an actual source of the Amazon River. The painting was placed under plexiglass in the gallery and visitors could walk all over it, to discover hundreds of exotic, flowering plants beneath their feet. For the surrounding walls, Elwes created images (reminiscent of cave paintings) of a woman asleep in this rare ecosystem. Placed in the heart of a contemporary city, these engaging landscapes seem to function like museum displays beamed in from the future, as too-late reminders of something already extinct. Elwes also created two large 360 degree paintings in Colombia. The second of these, "Forest of Statues," is a circular painting based on the dimensions of "The Hunting Lodge" at Avesbury.
On returning in 2000 from life near the rain forest, Elwes was heartened to discover the advances brought on by the use of personal computers. He began another series of paintings which focus on human potential, using the artist studio as a metaphor for human creativity. So far he has painted many of the major studios of the twentieth century including those of Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, René Magritte, Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí. English art historian, Anthony Haden Guest wrote, "Elwes demonstrates that great artists provide food for more than just the eye. He wants the viewer to feel he is witnessing creation which is why his paintwork never sets out to confront his subjects “mano a mano” but has a feel of openness, of a space in which something is surely about to happen. In some sense, Elwes wants the viewer to feel what it is like to inhabit each of these painters. You do not absolutely have to know that Dali similarly levitated Velasquez’s studio in a painting, but, along with the immediate visual impact, such decodings are part of the pleasures of the work."
A documentary titled "Inside Picasso's Studio" (2006) follows Elwes as he recreates almost the entire ground floor of Picasso's "Villa La Californie" as it was in April, 1956. The painting wraps around several walls and viewers are able to walk from room to room while observing hundreds of Picasso's recently created artworks and works in progress. Curator, Fred Hoffman wrote, "While we, the viewer, are immediately intrigued and invited to partake of these historical moments, what actually sustains, even heightens our interest, is Damian Elwes’ ability to turn documentation and historical record into compelling pictorial visions requiring repeated viewing and constant deciphering. Elwes’ concern for historical accuracy, and his subsequent investigative process enable his fully realized paintings to have a freshness and immediacy which none of the source material contains nor conveys. It is not, therefore, the fact that he has painted Picasso’s studio that makes Elwes’ work of interest. Rather, it is his ability to use the historical source material about Picasso to achieve some immediacy for his own concerns as a painter. In the end, it is the expressive quality of these works that we feel drawn to."

Education

Elwes studied at Harrow School and Harvard University. At graduation his professor gave him a palette knife that had once belonged to Henri Matisse. Instead of going to art school he went to Paris where, for two years, he made paintings of the studios of contemporary artists as a way of learning from them.

In the 1980s, Elwes lived in New York, where he was an early exponent of graffiti art. In 1984 his first paintings were chosen by the Robert Fraser Gallery to be exhibited alongside those of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.-Early life:...

 and Keith Haring

Keith Haring

Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.-Early life:...

.

Series of Paintings

Source of the Amazon, 1999-2010 (Installation) A floor painting describes the kind of ecosystem which existed millions of years before humans and which is likely to exist millions of years from now.

Fallen Tree, 1998 (Installation) A floor painting shows the cycle of life in a virgin forest (untouched by humans).

Forest of Statues, 1998 (Installation) 12 panels form a circular 360-degree painting of a forest where early humans have carved statues.

Bull Paintings, 1993-2009 Reflections about cave paintings are brought to life because at 9 years old Elwes was gored and almost killed by a Spanish fighting bull.

Edge of the Forest, 1997 (Installation) 12 panels join together to form a square 360-degree painting. Viewers find themselves in an exotic garden with a house on one side and a forest on the other.

Paintings of the Romantic Poets in Italy, 1992-3

Paintings of the studios of 19th Century Masters, 2002–08

Paintings of the studios of 20th Century Masters, 2002–12

Picasso's Villa La Californie, 2005-12 (Installation) 8 panels connect together and wrap around three walls. This painting describes a moment of intense human creativity.

Paintings of Women, 2010-12

Exhibitions

• Francis Naumann Fine Art, October 22 - December 15, 2004
• M&B Fine Art, March 2 - May 15, 2006
• Lefevre Fine Art, June 6 - July 4, 2008
• MortonMetropolis, June 2 - july 16, 2010

Collections

Collectors of his work include Steve Wynn, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, Sir Jacob Rothschild, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Mick Jagger, Donald Sutherland, Al Pacino, Jodie Foster, Pierce Brosnan , Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas.

External links

• Francis M. Naumann Fine Art
• Lefevre
• The Independent
• M + B Fine Art