Ellen Phelan: Family Romance - Laurence Miller Gallery

Laurence Miller Gallery Exhibition Sept 9 - October 29, 2004

Ellen Phelan Family Romance
An installation of 160 digital pigment prints

From September 9 through October 29 Laurence Miller Gallery will feature Ellen Phelan: Family Romance, an installation of over 150 family photographs from 1905-2004. This first-ever exhibition of Phelan’s photographic work complements a concurrent show of her critically acclaimed paintings and work on paper at Ameringer Yohe Fine Art, also located at 20 West 57^th Street.

The installation is a nostalgic documentary. Though these digitally altered snapshots look into the artist’s past, they also awaken our own recollections of childhood. Looking through a colorful family history, Phelan replaces the camera’s focus with her own, and the reflective images emerge as episodes of self-exploration, defying memory as child’s play.

Ellen Phelan was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1943. She lives in New York City and Westport, New York with her husband, artist Joel Shapiro. Her paintings are in numerous public and private collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, San Francisco Museum of Contemporary Art, Walker Art Center, High Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden, and the Saatchi Collection. A catalog published by Ameringer Yohe Fine Art accompanies the exhibitions.

Please note: Ellen Phelan's digital pigment prints are available as an edition of 6 plus 2 artist proofs.

(click image for detail view)