Dana Ellyn   www.danaellyn.com
NOTABLE EXHIBITS

MISP Museum
St Petersburg, Russia
Grotesque in Art exhibit




American Visionary
Art Museum
Baltimore, MD
Shock & Awe exhibit
Sesow portrait




PUBLIC ART

The Fred resort
St. Croix, US Virgin Islands
Featured in Food & Wine magazine

Photos of work in progress


Morris Bar
Washington, DC
see photos




INTERVIEWS

Podcast interview
on Live Planted

LISTEN here

Podcast interview
on Our Hen House

LISTEN here

Podcast interview
on Tranquility du Jour

LISTEN here

In-depth interview
Global Looking Glass magazine
READ it here

Video interview
TV Animalista (Barcelona, Spain)
WATCH it here

Featured in COK's Magazine
"Compassionate Action"

summer issue
CLICK HERE to see article

WASHINGTON POST
Dana Ellyn at the Little Salon

Read about it in
The Washington Post



PROJECTS

Heritage Trail project
DC history paintings
CLICK HERE to see project

31 Days in July
2003-2013
View project





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COMMISSIONED PAINTINGS
Dana Ellyn can create a custom painting for you!
Contact: dana@danaellyn.com
commissions     commissions
commissions
 


 
Email: dana@danaellyn.com
 
There is a daring allegorical uniqueness to a Dana Ellyn painting. Bright colors attract... skillful composition with contemporary motifs illicit an emotional reaction. Dana Ellyn is a story-teller, a modern day town crier, documenting current events.
 
Interviews & Articles
 
"Dana's "BANNED" exhibit ... is a striking meditation on the uncomfortable truths many would prefer stay hidden, or worse, black-lines out of existance, each painting raising many question"
-Jenn Larsen, We Love DC (July 2010)
Click to read entire article
 
"Resurrecting the spirit of the Inquisition in times of infamy is, to date, one of the most outstanding merits of this artist whose unique view of religions, has made her bring her own torment upon herself: insults, damnations and death threats.
Although it should not be necessary to say it, we will say it anyway: this series, "Divinely Irreverent", was always intended as a satire rather than an offense. Still, many Catholics vehemently attacked their author after she took part in Blasphemy Day last September 30th in Washington. From that day, her mailbox was full of threats and reproaches, and the State media, apart from censuring her, gave her a bitersweet protagonism that she would have never imagined. The cause of all this stirring, the magnificient Dana Ellyn, takes it easy."

-Hugo Izarra, Standdart Magazine (August 2010)
Click to read entire article
 
"D.C. artist Dana Ellyn documents the political, social and cultural events of the day with the humor of a satirist, the mind of an informed citizen and the color and brush strokes of an engaging artist who is serious about her work. Her commentary on the 2008 presidential race and the self-inflicted crippling of U.S. financial behemoths is as timely and vital as anything the SNL cast could dream up, and if you've seen any of her Sarah Palin paintings - "Gunning for the White House" or "Sarah's Three Ring Media Circus" trilogy, you would know that Tina Fey isn't the only person giving Mrs. Palin a proper satirical skewering."
-Laura Horsley, Rough Copy (November 2008)
Click to read entire article
 
"Ellyn opens eyes through lushly hued, wickedly witty renderings of the infamous and the ignored. She details the figures with devious precision and hits the bull's-eye with the eyes, those windows to the soul ... or for the soulless, that creamy nougat center."
-Robin Tierney, DC Examiner (Sept 16, 2008)
Click to read entire article
 
"Ellyn's reaction to their less-than-enthusiastic tour group is No Place Like Home, a tall portrait of a pained-looking American in a Dorothy costume, clutching a McDonald's cup and a Chinese fan, surrounded by fascinated Chinese schoolchildren. The artists' styles contrast especially in how they, as Westerners, portray the eyes of their Chinese subjects....Ellyn's are sunken and dark."
-Maura Judkis, Washington City Paper (Aug 29, 2008)
Click to read entire article
 
"Political painter Ellyn....painted and drew what (she) saw there, ending up with documentary-style works that capture factory workers, daily life and even an impression left by Mao. "
-Washington Post (Aug 23, 2008)
Click to read entire article
 
"The books might have something to say about Ellyn's artistic commentary, especially since most uphold a view on either religion, politics, family or society in general."
-Lauren Hodges, Encore Magazine (May 14, 2008)
Click to read entire article
 
"Ellyn's paintings are more of a MAD Magazine or Tim Burton level of naughtiness. Critical concepts tearing apart respected American deities are visually neutralized by a kind of 1950s rockabilly style, like how the potentially perverted stuff in Disney goes unnoticed because of the superficially sincere pastel color palate and tradition of every character having oversized, shallow, blameless eyes. This balance, the tension that Ellyn toys with in each painting, along with their simplicity, is what makes them so effective. "
-Isabel Heblich, Star News (May 14, 2008)
Click to read entire article
 
"Her art is fantastic, ranging from social and political commentary to... well, almost all of what's on her site has some sort of social and political commentary. What separates her art from some other politically motivated pieces is that her work is not completely straightforward. There is a lot to take in and it keeps my attention longer than I think it will."
-Posting/review on DC Metroblogging
Click to read entire interview
 
"I tell stories, I document history, I express my reactions to the world through my paintings. Although not as readily accepted (as the decorative arts), I believe it holds an undeniably vital place in American culture."
-Interview with Dana Ellyn from Black Cat Bone
Click to read entire interview
 
"She is a rather incredible artist whose vision and work is political, social and always meaningful. Her style is interesting in that the details are all meaningful. Nothing is there as decoration or as a purely aesthetic element. The subjects of Ellyn's paintings are cutting and painful at times, often with a humorous touch, and are always moving. She doesn't make "pretty" paintings but they are all beautiful in how they convey theirs messages."
-Posting/review on DC Metroblogging
 
"Every day that month, the duo would scour the front page of the Washington Post, then get busy putting their brushes to canvas, each illustrating their own colorful-yet-totally-sick-and-twisted views on the day's news"
-Chris Shott, Washington City Paper
Click to read the entire article from the Washington City Paper
 
"Dana Ellyn is peeling away the art school compulsion to make, and hide behind, pretty pictures."
- Jim Magner, The Hill Rag
Click to read entire article from the Hill Rag
 
 
"(Ellyn's paintings are) extremely acidic, caustic and pointed commentaries with provocative titles married to insane figurative paintings."
- Review of ArtOMatic
Click to read entire article
 
 
"Dana Ellyn's wonderfully, almost cartoon-like figures, with their deft ideas and imagery..."
- Tony Harvey, "The Intowner"
Click to read entire article from the Intowner
 
 
"The news stories are springboards for what, considered as a whole, is a quintessentially D.C. endeavor: art that comments on world affairs"
- Matthew Summers, Washington City Paper
Click to read entire article from the Washington City Paper
 
 
"[One] of the most extraordinary and dedicated fulltime artists I have come across in Washington, DC... "
- Jeannie Smith, Poetic Inhalation
 
 
"Censorship is nothing new for Ellyn. Two years ago, she says, her painting, titled Pick 3, was removed from the National Press Club after members complained about the image, which depicted a young girl tugging on her wedgied underwear."
- Chris Shott, Washington City Paper
Click to read entire article
The Washington City Paper, caught wind of my story about my painting, "Exposed", that was pulled from a show at the GW University Breast Care Center in May 2004. He interviewed me and wrote the following article. Unfortunately, after a heated debate among City Paper editors, they decided not to run the story due to worries that it was "insensitive."
 
 
"What's important to me is painting. I want to leave behind a body of work that documents my life and the times I experienced."
- Dana Ellyn, Interview with Cool Town Studios
Click to read entire interview
 
 
All images copyright Dana Ellyn