Robert Ellison

I use oil or acrylic on canvas, in a broadly representational but often spontaneous manner which often veers toward the abstract, to create grittily energetic landscapes and still lives and (more occasionally) figurative pieces. A lawyer by profession, I only discovered my ability to express myself through painting in my early forties. Since 2014 I have enjoyed much more freedom to paint as much as I want whenever I want. My work is generally well received but possibly the strongest praise my work has received was from Neill Shawcross MBE RUA who said the following on opening a solo exhibition of my paintings at the Island Arts Centre Lisburn in 2005: "ALL Robert's paintings have the Wow! factor. ... In his paintings he creates a world that is uniquely his own. We are privileged to be able to see the world through his eyes". Though I am currently self-representing I was represented successfully for several years by the former Chrisites Irish art expert Danny Kinahan until he closed his Castle Upton Gallery four years ago on taking up a full-time career in politics. Very recently a high end gallery in New York has expressed interest in exhibiting my paintings and I have just confirmed my own interest in that possibility.

I obtained a second class (first division) honours degree in law from Queen's University Belfast. I am a self-taught artist, albeit I have benefited from being the son of an artist and from being married to one.

I am due to show a significant number of my paintings in a collective exhibition at the Agora Gallery New York for three weeks from 20 January 2017. Currently Agora are showing 16 of my works on their online gallery at art-mine.com/artistpage/robert_ellison.aspx.
My work has been included in a significant number of Royal Ulster Academy annual exhibitions and many other group exhibitions. Over the last decade I have had three solo exhibitions at the Island Arts Centre Lisburn, where I am due to have another such show in 2017. My work is held in public and private collections including that on the Art UK website, which was formerly hosted by the BBC and comprises its "National Collection" of publicly owned art. It is also shown on ArtWeb.com, Goforart.com and my own website robertellisonpainter.com.