Ellen Harvey

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA

Artist statement

Ever since "New York Beautification Project", for which I painted illegal oil landscapes on New York City graffiti sites, to raise awareness about the problematic policing of non-commissioned public art, I have tried to use my work to create public conversations about the issues that concern me. My work is painting-based but utilizes a wide variety of media and participatory strategies to explore the social and ecological implications of the picturesque, the revolutionary potential of nostalgia and the conflict between advertising and ornament and art and tourism in public space. I have been inspired by a feminist point of view that rejects the idea of the artist as a special privileged voice in favor of using art to provide visibility for lost or hidden narratives and to create community. For example, for one of my current projects, "The Disappointed Tourist", I have been painting destroyed sites that members of the public wish they could visit, using nostalgia to create empathy rather than division, creating a community united by the loss of beloved places. Similarly, for “Utopia Machine,” I have been painting patent drawings based on library patrons’ ideas about how to make our world into a utopia. Even when my work does not actively include public participation, I try to seduce the public into engaging with challenging subjects, such as sea-level rise in “Atlantis”, a project for the Miami Beach Convention Center or the role of women in transportation in “Network”, a...

Artwork