Ellie Ali

Born in New York City in 1947, and having traveled extensively, Ellie’s influences range from ancient cave paintings; to James Baldwin, John Coltrane, Joan Miro and other fearless writers, musicians, and painters of the 1950’s & 1960’s; to the North African landscape where she spent some of her youth. Ali believes in a continuum of artists from the ancients to the future who contribute beauty and ideas to the world. She says, “I aspire to be part of the continuum and consequently part of the optimism of humanity.”

Ali only paints people, “They speak, I listen.” She calls paper her co-conspirator and searches for the finest museum quality papers from around the world. She believes the paper does at least half the work. The viewer does the rest. On her paper, she layers acrylics, Chinese ink, oil stick and wax. At times she washes the painting under running water and dries it before working back into it. This method gives Ali’s paintings rich textures and marks that flow like the music which inspires her.

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Selected Works

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