ARTIST STATEMENT

 

I’m always interested in creating another world. That was my first impetus in making art, and it still is.

I’ve been using pattern as structure. I articulate a pattern, mess it up, and then allow it to bring me back from the edge of chaos.

The edge of chaos is actually the place that interests me the most. That’s why drawing out complex patterns and then flirting with their destruction–the edge of them existing and then not, is the place I keep going to.

_____________________________________________

Ellen Grobman is a painter based in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she has lived for more than 25 years. She has had a daily studio practice for a decade longer than that, and without it, she says, “nothing else is in balance, nothing else completely works.”

Her abstract pieces are vividly colored and delicately textured. They communicate, through elegant gestures and veiled messages, a visceral emotional undercurrent, and a desire to connect. Her work has been shown extensively in Massachusetts, New York, and other places on the eastern seaboard.

This drive to bring something into being, disrupt it, and then flirt with its destruction—the boundary of something existing and then not—echoes throughout her paintings. Most recently, her work was shown in a solo exhibition at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Raised in New York, Grobman knew she wanted to be an artist since early childhood. During high school, she took courses at the Art Students League and the New School in New York City. She attended Cornell University School of Art, earned her B.A. at Goddard College, and did a year of graduate work at Hunter College. During her time living in Manhattan, she worked in Information at the Metropolitan Museum, and at a studio in pre-gentrification Union Square.

Grobman has enjoyed being part of a large blended family for many years, was a Big Sister, has eight years of experience as a hospice volunteer, and is a self-described “political junkie.” She is also an avid hiker, and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2013.

 

RESUME

EDUCATION

Cornell University

Goddard College

Hunter College -MA program

ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2019        Hampden Gallery, University of

Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

2015        Michael Roud Studio, North Hollywood, CA

2010        Gallery A3, Amherst, MA

2006        Gallery A3, Amherst, MA

2003        Springfield Technical Community College,

Springfield, MA

2000        University of Massachusetts, Central Gallery,

Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

2000        Bender Fine Art, Atlanta, GA

1998        Bender Fine Art, Atlanta, GA

1998        Robert Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia

Tech, Atlanta, GA

1998        Parkersburg Art Center, Parkersburg VA

1996        Kirschner Haack Fine Art, Miami Beach, FL

1995        Noho Gallery, N.Y., NY

1994        Nacul Center Gallery, Amherst, MA

1989        Geissler Gallery, Stoneleigh Burnham School,

Greenfield, MA

1984        Hillyer Gallery, Smith College, Northampton,

MA

GROUP EXHBITIONS

2023      Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA

2020      Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA

2017        Take a Seat, Museum of Contemporary Art,

University of  Massachusetts

2016        Oresman Gallery, Smith College,

Northampton, MA

2015        “On the Road Again”, Springfield Technical

Community College

2014        “Moveable Feast”, Paper City Studio,

Holyoke, MA

2011        “Three Seeing”, A.P.E. Northampton, MA

2009        Springfield Technical Community College,

Springfield, MA

2008        Gallery A3, Amherst, MA

2005        Gallery A3, Amherst, MA

2005        “Seed/Word” RKL Gallery, Brooklyn, N.Y.

2003        “Poem/Image”, Gallery A3, Amherst, MA

2002        “New Members”, Gallery A3, Amherst, MA

1999        Reality Room Gallery, Washington, D.C.

1998        “Numinous”, Bender Fine Art, Atlanta, GA

(catalogue)

1997        Levy Performing Arts Center, Lake City

College, Lake City, FL

1995        “Bay State Artists”, Krasdale Gallery, N.Y., NY

(catalogue)

1992        “Family”, Goddard Riverside Gallery, N.Y., NY

1992        “Discovering Ourselves”, Elston Fine Arts,

N.Y., NY

1991        “Art of the Personal”, Krasdale Gallery,

N.Y., NY

1987        George Walter Vincent Smith Museum,

Springfield, MA

1982        American Indian Community House Gallery,

NY

1981        “Emerging Artists”, The Alternative Museum,

N.Y., NY

1981        “Selections of the Huson River Museum”,

Yonkers, NY

1981        “Sixth Anniversary Show”, The Alternative

Museum, N.Y., NY

PUBLICATIONS AND REVIEWS

Artscope, Cornered:Ellen Grobman at Hampden Gallery, UMass, Amherst 2019

Hampshire Life Magazine, Art Maker Ellen Grobman, 2019

Paperbark Literary Magazine, 2018

Peter Frank, “Speaking in Paint”, 2015

Arquitectura Y Diseno Internacional, “Trump Tower Residence N.Y

Monica Flores 2004, cover photo and article with painting

Daily Hamphire Gazette, “A summing Of the Parts, Phoebe Mitchell article with photo

Valley Advocate, Daniel Oppenheim 2003

Washington Post, Weekend Pick 1999

Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Jerry Cullam

Creative Loafing, Atlanta Metro Edition, Kathy Byrd 1998

The Springfield Sunday Republican, “Speaking of Art”, Gloria Russell 1995

Daily Hampshire Gazette, “Ellen Grobman at Nacul”, Patricia Wright 1995

Tikkun, painting used as illustration, 1993

The Secret Holy War of Santiago de Chile, (Chilean novel), book jacket painting 1993

The New York Times Sunday Magazine, painting included in article: “This Year’s Prophet” 1993

The New York Times, “Group Show at Krasdale Gallery”, Vivien Raynor 1992

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Rebecca Birdwhistle, Atlanta, GA

Reed Savage, Atlanta, GA

Harry and Zeena Kassel, Hewlett, NY

Dr. David and Karen Davis, Petersham, MA

Marjorie Cohen, Leverett, MA

Toby Coltin, Andover, MA

Gay Hapgood, Amherst, MA

Deborah and Ted Schlessel, N.Y., NY

WORKS | REVIEWS | CONTACT | HOME

© All images herein copyright Ellen Grobman, no reproduction without written permission. All rights reserved.