Robert Ellison

He blends realism with abstraction, using oil or acrylic, knife or brush to convey his excitement and interest in the subject with bold and often contrasting marks, colours and textures. He finds particular inspiration in unusual aspects of manmade or natural objects and in the field markings, shapes and skies of the natural landscape. His painting is both inspired and informed by features of the many works he has seen by great European artists such as Van Gogh, Matisse, Chaim Soutine, the German Expressionists and important expressionistic landscape painters from these islands such as Joan Eardley, Barbara Rae and David Tress.

Ellison’s paintings have been exhibited locally and abroad and are held in private, corporate and public collections including those of Belfast Health Trust, the Northern Ireland Government Collection and the Ulster Bank. His awards include the very unusual feat of winning the first, second, third and fourth places in a single category of The American Art Awards 2016 (an international competition juried by 25 galleries across the United States). When opening Robert Ellison’s first solo exhibition at the Island Arts Centre in 2005 Neill Shawcross said: “All of Robert’s paintings have the Wow! Factor. … In his paintings he creates a world that is uniquely his own.”