Shawn Ehlers

Shawn Ehlers is a former Ford/Elite model who lived and worked in Milan, Paris and New York before getting behind the lens. Photographed by well-known photographers as Helmut Newton, Olivero Toscani and Albert Watson, her shift behind the camera was an easy transition. She gave models movement and posing directions familiar to her, helping launch successful commercial and fashion careers. Also working as a celebrity shooter for Wireimage and Getty Images, some of her roster includes: Lady Gaga, Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, President’s Bush and Clinton, Susan Sarandon, and Whoopie Goldberg. As a fine artist she won the prestigious gold award in 2015, Prix de la Photographie (PX3) for her series, “Women as Birds”. She combines the medium of Polaroid photography with the ancient art of encaustic wax.

Artist Statement
I’ve come back to my roots with photography, shooting exclusively with various Polaroid cameras. I find the film produces a magic image which scanned during the development of the photo is then printed using watercolor textured archival paper and ink. Typically there are several layers of encaustic wax that are brushed on and manipulated with a palette knife to get the surface I desire. The art of encaustic wax began in ancient Greece, initially applied to the hulls of ships with pigment and eventually made it’s way to both easel painting and sculpture.
There is a luminosity and dimensionality with the application of encaustic wax.

SOLO SHOWS

2016 Architectural Digest Show Solo Booth, NYC, New York

2017 Architectural Digest Show Solo Booth, NYC, New York

2018 Black Swan Antiques Sag Harbor, New York

2019 The Other Art Fair Solo Booth NYC, New York

GROUP SHOWS

2019 William Ris Gallery, Jamesport, New York-”Forms and Figures”

2019 Arte Collective Gallery, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Bridgehampton, New York

2019 Market Art & Design Show, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Bridgehampton, New York

2019 Reveal Art Fair, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Saratoga Springs, New York

2019 Sotheby’s Art House, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Sag Harbor, New York

2019 Intercontinental Hotel, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Miami, Florida

2019 SOFA, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Chicago, Illinois

2019 Art Basel-Art Now, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Miami, Florida

2019 DCOTA Miami Design Center, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Miami, Florida

2020 Palm Beach Art Fair, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Miami, Florida