born in canton, ohio in 1975, clay elliott has been creating art for most of his life. clay's early experiments in abstract expressionism and life drawing helped in creating an aesthetic that combines both genres. his paintings are heavily influenced by 60's poster art and cubism- at once modern and retro, clay's art seems lost in time.
now living and working in tempe, arizona, clay's newest work explores the "gray area" that exists in between photo realism and complete abstraction. his characters are deconstructed to their most elemental shapes, and then put back together again like pop surrealist jigsaw puzzles. many of clay's paintings literally fall apart into swimming seas of shapes as one moves in for a closer look.
CE: I was born and raised in Canton, Ohio. In 2000, I moved to the Phoenix area and started painting professionally shortly thereafter. In my free time I work at Wet Paint Artist Supply, and play music with the band Slapdash.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
CE: I live in Tempe with my wife Amanda. My studio is located in our spare bedroom.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
CE: These days I almost always work from photographs that I manipulate in Photoshop. I transfer the images to canvas and layer several coats of thinned-out acrylic. This process can take anywhere from 40 to 100 hours.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
CE: I work primarily with acrylic, or acrylic and ink on canvas, since these mediums dry very quickly . I like to work with oils when I‘m not on a deadline, or if I have a buyer which prefers oil paint.
SG: What’s your Studio like?
CE: Usually a disaster. I hand mix all of my colors, so there are all of these red plastic cups full of paint everywhere. The walls are covered with paint splattered cardboard, since I paint on the wall instead of on an easel.
SG: What are some of your inspirations influencing your work?
CE: I guess some of my main influences would have to be Peter Max, Andy Warhol, Shepard Fairey, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dali.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
CE: In the last few years I’ve shown work at Fate, Monorchid, The Orange Table, Wet Paint, Mood Swings and Pita Jungle.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
CE: I’ll be showing at Windup Gallery in Mesa through the end of July, and B-Side Gallery in downtown Phoenix for the First Friday in July.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
CE: My dream art assignment would probably be to travel to other countries and create paintings based on what I’ve seen and experienced. This idea really set in for me when I was traveling through Spain and taking pictures of all of the statues and sculptures I wanted to paint portraits of.
SG: You use some interesting colors and combinations. What moved you to work in those color schemes?
CE: I’ve always been drawn to bright, vibrant colors. I started noticing though that every color I was using was bright and that my paintings had very little contrast. So that’s what kind of brought me to where I am now, still using the bright colors, but offsetting them with deeper, richer colors.
SG: What’s your favorite color?
CE: Gray actually, especially in relation to other colors.
SG: What book/magazines are you reading this week?
CE: Rolling Stone and Juxtapoz Magazine.
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
CE: I’ve done three self portraits, one in 2001 that was completely abstract, one in 2003 that was more realistic, and another realistic one last January. I sold the first two a few years ago, and the new one is in my studio right now. I’ve actually been using my self portrait as my logo for the last few years.
SG: So let’s end with your favorite place to hang.
CE: My favorite place to show art was Wet Paint Art Supply’s gallery, which I helped curate until our building was sold to be torn down, in order to make room for more condos. Now, I’m not really sure.
