New York artist David Ellis, known for his stunning motion paintings, will be in residence at the Visual Arts Center (VAC) from March 22 to April 30 to create an original video commissioned by Landmarks, the public art program at The University of Texas at Austin.
The video will premiere at the inaugural opening exhibition at the VAC in September. The VAC is a collaboration and exhibition space within the Department of Art and Art History where artists, faculty and students gather to create and explore contemporary art. In collaboration with Landmarks, the VAC will provide a workspace for Ellis in its Vaulted Gallery. He will set up a studio-like environment where he will create a large-scale painting on the floor. Creating new images daily he will document his painting process with a high-definition camera installed overhead. This process will be edited to create a separate video piece, known as a motion painting.
As part of his residency, Ellis will work with students in painting and production to help create his video. He will also speak to a number of classes in Studio Art and conduct individual studio visits with graduate students. He is slated to talk with students in Professor Mike Smith’s performance art class and Professor Teresa Hubbard’s digital art class, conduct walk-throughs of his work with Leslie Mutchler’s two-dimensional foundations class and contribute critiques of Michael Ray Charles’ advance painting class.
Ellis will be seeking students with painting, sculpting, transmedia or set design experience to assist him with painting and production. Students interested in working with Ellis should e-mail Nicole Vlado, Landmarks internal affairs coordinator.
