Friday ProFile: Ellis G.

When I was a kid, I love coloring on my driveway with chalk. My sketches were never very good, but I enjoyed leaving my mark for other people to see. These early chalk drawings led to other creative endeavors. Ellis G., on the other hand, took the reverse approach. Hailing from Manhattan's East Village, this native New Yorker started out bombing and ended up chalking. Don't be fooled; while the medium seems simple, his pieces are anything but.

As a kid in the late 1970s, Ellis marveled at graffiti culture springing up around him. "I was certainly inspired by what I saw out there in the streets," he recalls. Bombing with IRAK crew members like Earsnot and the late Dash Snow, he spent his youth getting up around the city. Since 1979, he's left his mark in New York, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Miami, Amsterdam, Negril, and Bangkok. No matter where he roams, he alway returns to his roots. "I have a special affinity towards New York," he says, "I'm from here."
After a good fifteen years in the graffiti game, Ellis decided to mix things up. Taking a stick of chalk to the street led him in a new direction. After choosing an object (perhaps a bicycle or fire hydrant), he works quickly to chalk a vibrant outline around its shadow. Each shadow remains frozen in time long after the sun's position changes or the object gets moved.
In addition to his chalk pieces, Ellis also keeps it spicy with his trademark fire-tagging. "I did it once at a friend's place on a piece of plywood back in 1999," he remembers. "I didn't revisit it until late 2008. I was working in a gallery and I was bored, so I decided to cop a tag on the bathroom wall and set it ablaze." Since those early endeavors, he's experimented and improved his technique.
Don't think for one second that chalking is easy; before I spoke with Ellis, he'd been picked up by the cops. (Will they start going after children next? Clearly my early hopscotch days were a violation.) "There's always the risk of being arrested," he insists. "I have spent many a night in central bookings. Not fun."

In spite of the challenges, Ellis continues to hustle. His chalk pieces are all over the Lower East Side. This summer, "Ocular Echoism: The Autonomy of Ellis G." drew steady crowds at Collective Hardware. "As an artist, I want to create more," he says. "I would like to develop into large-scale installations. I am currently working on various projects. As a person, I want to be the best father I can be." Although his work can seem a bit fantastic, Ellis's message is a big reality check. "I'm motivated by the need to create and engage," he insists. "People need to take a second out of their schedules to become aware of their surroundings and the life around them."

Thanks, Ellis! I caught up with him at Willoughby Windows this summer and agree that he's a really cool guy. He brought his son, chatted with friends, and talked about new projects. When I camped out in front of the Os Gêmeos mural, he stopped by to chalk out his respects to Dash Snow. Ellis is definitely someone you can grab a beer with after his awesome gallery opening. For more info, check out his website (it will direct you to his MySpace etc.) Hope everyone has a great Halloween and I'll see you Monday!

July 2000: Ellis G. and friends

Since my time here is limited, I packed my Wednesday full of art. SoHo houses some of my favorite galleries, so I braved the rain to explore.

First stop: Collective Hardware for Ellis G.’s show, Ocular Echoism. Sadly, I missed the opening last week and I have to peace out for the follow-up party tonight. However, you should definitely stop by.

Ellis brings the street indoors with a deftly arranged collection of trash, leaves, and newspaper boxes. Photos of his street pieces adorned the walls and I loved recognizing each piece out of context. While I still think his street stuff is my favorite, I appreciate the new take on his classic style.
As I read up for this post, I stumbled upon a great interview at Arrested Motion. Apparently, Ellis started chalk tagging after he was robbed outside of his house. Seeing his attacker’s shadow left him hypersensitive. To face his fear, he hit the streets at night and started tracing other familiar shadows.
After Collective Hardware, I passed by both Deitch Galleries. On Wooster Street, I was completely grossed out by Black Acid Co-Op, the latest collaboration between Jonah Freedman and Justin Lowe. The whole project explores how subcultures intersect with the mainstream. As you enter the site, you are swallowed whole. Passing from Chinese grocery to university library to meth lab, the exhibit might be more aptly titled Black Acid Trip. The kitchen tables filled with Sudafed, empty 40s, and spider-webbing tubes contrasted the emptiness of the rooms. At one point, another viewer peered through the doorway and I screamed. The oppressive environment put me on edge and left me feeling like a dirty intruder.
Then I followed up the Wooster Street Gallery with the Dash Snow memorial on Grand St. Ellis used to tag with Irak heavy, so Dash’s memorial tied my whole trip together. After the meth lab excursion, I felt a bit sick watching footage of Snow’s “hamster den.” Fans and friends alive covered the gallery with Polaroids and personal messages for Snow. The experience got me thinking: Was Dash exploited by the art world or did he calculate his every move? Ten years from now, will we view him as a genius or a flash in the pan? How much talent DOES it take to come on the New York Post? With all the media coverage, I feel like Dash’s live was one big out of body experience that I’m still trying to suss out. Thoughts?

July 2009: Ellis G. in NYC

When I first saw Ellis G.'s work, I saw a piece about his fire-tagging on Gothamist. His crazy ass tags a wall, then lights the paint on fire before it dries. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch this phenomenon live at his show on July 23rd. Here's what's up:

“Ellis Gallagher is a native New Yorker, born in Manhattan in 1973. He has made his name through paramount innovations in street art. His chalk etchings outlining the shadows of everyday objects are the evolutionary result of his former graffiti-writing career. His graffiti works can be found across New York City’s streets, in Europe and Asia, and in magazines, newspapers, film productions, and beyond. His first book, Adhesives, is to be published with Powerhouse Books and will feature spreads of graffiti and street art stickers, the ultimate compendium of contemporary urban art lovers the world over.”
“In his highly anticipated debut solo show exhibition, Ellis Gallagher continues his quest in deobjectifying the common street icon and manifests it into the surreal. His sidewalk chalk drawings of the city’s overlooked objects- mailboxes, garbage cans, street signs, bicycles, etc.- have become a trademark in street art culture worldwide. ‘Ocular Echoism: The Autonomy of Ellis Gallagher’ is collectively the artist’s most ambitious body of work to date and includes limited edition screen prints, original photographs, skate decks, fire tags, and an indoor New York City street scene instillation, garbage included.”
“Ellis Gallagher’s shadow chalk drawings traverse pre-conceived perceptions of street art’s brevity by manipulating the impact of the ever-changing city landscape, altering it into a sublime standstill. His graffiti-writing roots have evolved into an outlet that speaks and interacts with its viewers by engaging in an ongoing, lucid conversation between the artist and the city residents. Aesthetically, chalk as a medium behaves perfectly to accomplish Ellis Gallagher’s mission to transpose the mundane into something magical. The medium is temporal, opaque, and transcendental, removing the view from his or her own personal reality and subjects one to question something else all together, a renewal of their surroundings that are experienced and disregarded every day.”
“Existing only as a reflection of the environment, Ellis Gallagher’s work spatially considers the everyday object and the study of transitory light and color. In daytime, he aims to perfectly enclose projected shadows, capturing their essence with a chalk outline. The constant battle between the art and the fleeting sunlight sanctions these drawings as being rare and beautiful. Beneath the static glow of the city’s street light, Ellis Gallagher manifests the cityscape into his own playground of glowing shadows.”

Thanks, Ellis! Definitely pop over to his show on July 23^rd. It’s going off at Collective Hardware (169 Bowery bet. Broome and Delancy) at 7 p.m. For more info, check his website. I think I need to be there to witness a fire tag firsthand. Any takers?

Finally, one of Ellis's latest pieces is by the Os Gêmeos mural in memory of Dash Snow.