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Ellen Altfest

@altfestival

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https://hillslife.jp/art/2022/07/22/painter-at-work/

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Go deeper with @altfestival 🎥 This is the first in a new video series exploring the artist’s meticulous process, intimate subjects, and the layered ways she invites us to see the world. Stay tuned for more. taken in Frist Art Museum by @altfestival

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a year ago

Pics from Chie Fueki’s excellent exhibition at the Sarasota Art Museum! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻So nice to be able to see these paintings again after so long ❤️‍🔥Joe Fig and I marveled at the flattened dog ✨🐾✨ and skewed kitchen table in Chie’s 2008 painting of artists Aiko Hachisuka and John Williams. On top of this, the second hand stores in Sarasota are a paradise. 💃 Saw this retiree rocking out in his red sports car. I love senior living! 💘🌞 🌴 @sarasotaartmuseum @chiefueki @dcmooregallery @joefig2000 @aikohachisuka by @altfestival

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New paintings and fun times at the Aldrich Decennial, which celebrates artists working in CT! The exhibition is up through the beginning of January. I hope you can check it out. 💕
@thealdrich by @altfestival

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4 months ago

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5 months ago

Great time in Connecticut @thealdrich Spring Gala last night. It was fun to wear a vintage Marimekko dress from my collection. Artists love Marimekko, and Catherine Murphy told me she has her own collection from her days in Boston. This one is older than I am :) I enjoyed hanging with great painters @kurtkauper and @alexisrockman and seeing the shows that are up now. Looking forward to showing some new paintings of my own alongside other 💥 CT artists in the upcoming Aldrich Decennial! @amy_smithstewart @danicalundy @carldalvia by @altfestival

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6 months ago

April 16, in North London, a sketchbook of mine will be on view, a 90s time capsule of sorts: the Yale Painting Program, my grandparents, my intense twenty-something self, and even a surprise appearance by Fred Tomaselli (who somehow hasn’t changed).
Codex is a genuine and generous project by artist Lyle Perkins, where you can spend time with artists’ sketchbooks (gloves provided). Fellow artists are: Gareth Cadwallader, Suleman Aqeel Khilji, and Ruth Murray.
I hope you can make it :)
@lyleaperkins @fredtomaselli @yaleschoolofart by @altfestival

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6 months ago

In honor of the last day of "Forever" at Wrightwood 659 in Chicago, I am sharing my Georgia Pinecone Trilogy, (really three paintings) currently on view in the exhibition.

I started the works in 2024 with the open pinecones (last painting) which looks through to what is known locally as "Billy Goat Point", on the edge of Lookout Mountain. Rob and I were married in front of the big tree in the background, and the blue is the distance.

One day, I saw the pinecones closed and drying, (I didn't know pinecones opened and closed! 😮) and decided to make a second painting.

We moved up north in January and I could tell something wasn't amiss in the second painting. I convinced Rob to drive back down after the leaves came out in the early spring, and when we got there I was greeted by a tiny log pile in front of the large tree, which I loved and immediately added. ✨🪵✨

I also had to re-orient the pinecones in the frame, which really meant making the whole painting over. 🙈

The single pinecone, I had thought was complete, but I worked on it again and made it a lot better. It seems to me that the pine cone and the tiny tree in the valley are responding to one another. 🌲💚 by @altfestival

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10 months ago

Midwesterners and art enthusiasts: My exhibition, Forever, has made its way from Nashville to 🌬️Chicago! The edited 15-painting survey exhibition opens @wrightwood659 on October 3rd and is open through December 20th. For this show, I have included the last painting in my pinecone trilogy. 🌲🪵

I saw 👁️ a little bit of the Scott Burton show, which is up at the same time, curated by @jesskawilcox, and it looks fantastic.

Rob Colvin, 👨🏻‍🦱, and I will be giving a public talk on the evening of November 18th. Details to follow.

Hope y’all can come! 🧑🏼‍🎨 by @altfestival

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a year ago

Sunday, we celebrated Adam Cvijanovic’s 40 foot tall mural and masterwork, which celebrates immigrants across time, was blessed today at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and is now holy! 💒☝🏼The painting literally shone all the way across the vast space. 🌟 Adam and his wife, Julia, were also blessed by the Cardinal! (see pic). 🙏🏻 We partied on the patio after. 🕺🏻 It was a singular New York experience and I am so happy for Adam and this well-deserved success. ✨🥇✨
@adamcvijanovic by @altfestival

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a year ago

I love the first day of a new painting 🌱💕 by @altfestival

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a year ago

Belated thank you to everyone who came from far and wide to the opening of my exhibition, Forever, at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, TN. ✨ I was so moved having you all there to support me for this survey of my work. It was a blast!

It’s emotional to see all the work together, which I know I made, but sometimes seems like the work a long ago version of myself that I am speaking for. I wanted to study my paintings to see how they were made. 😄 I often feel competitive with paintings from the past, which feels like a good thing. Last time I saw my older work, I started painting deep space, to see if I could still do it, and because I thought I’d enjoy it. That lead us to live in Rising Fawn, Georgia for almost 3 years, living on top of a mountain, and making a life in the South. Those paintings are in this exhibition.

I couldn’t ask for a better presentation of my work; thank you @markscala for being such a wonderful curator and to my husband, Rob Colvin, for making a funny and insightful film about making my Georgia paintings. I will post this soon!

@fristartmuseum

Forever is open through September 1, 2025.

A smaller version of Forever will travel to @wrightwood659 in Chicago, opening there on October 3rd. by @altfestival

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a year ago

Ellen Altfest: ‘When you’re in front of something that’s so spectacular (...) how do you make it your own?’

Ellen’s new exhibition ‘Forever’ is now open at the Frist Museum, Nashville.

Inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poem, ‘Forever – is composed of the Nows’, Ellen’s latest exhibition serves as a gentle encouragement to embrace mindful presence.

This focus on the immediate moment is reflected in her process, which often involves working outdoors across the seasons, meticulously observing and rendering everyday objects, that might otherwise escape our notice.

Click the link in our bio to learn more.

📌 On view at Frist Art Museum, Nashville, until 1 September 2025.

Video: © White Cube (Rob Colvin).

#WhiteCube #EllenAltfest #EmilyDickinson #Nashville #FristArtMuseum by @altfestival

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a year ago