Janiva Ellis (born 1987) is an American painter based in

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and

Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city ...

. Ellis creates figurative paintings that explore the

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

female experience, while incorporating her journey of self-identity within the Black community.

Early life and education

Born in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, Ellis is biracial. Her mother is white, and her father is black. She was raised by her mother and moved to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

at the age of 7, moving between the islands of

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

and

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

. From the age of 10 to 16, she lived in Kauai. She started painting at age 10, and was mentored by Tammy Day, a 20-year black woman. Hawaii has a small Black population, and Ellis' work investigates the complex racial dynamic of her upbringing and the biracial origins of her identity. Ellis studied painting at the

California College of the Arts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, graduating in 2012.

Professional onset

Upon graduating in 2012, Ellis took a pause from the art world and returned to Hawaii. Ellis did not find any inspiration from the New York art scene, nor companions of the same ethnic background. This was a big loss for Ellis's self identity and reasons why she left Hawaii to begin with. After taking a few years to find herself, Ellis returned to New York in 2017 with a new outlook on her upbringing and a sense of self identity being both black and white. In one of Ellis's recent works, ''The Angles,'' held at th
Hammer Vault Gallery
in Los Angeles, California, she relates her experience of feeling confusion and chaos of the self and the beauty of when one finds the self and accepts what is to be in the work. Critic Aram Moshayedi writes, "Decay and loss permeate''The Angels'', yet the intimate experience of looking closely and allowing oneself to succumb to the painting’s wrapping embrace reveals moments of flourish and signs of life amidst the debris."

Artistic practice

Ellis describes her paintings as, “not only an attempt to communicate to nonblack women my experience, but also to call to other

black women Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, ‘Do you feel this, too?’” Critic Rachel Corbett has commended Ellis for the psychoanalytic tension in her paintings, stating "The calm country landscapes in the background of Ellis’s paintings clash with her psychologically tormented subjects, who are often tyrannized by cartoon characters." Occasionally, Ellis's paintings incorporate religious symbology; such as lambs or

angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

, referencing the canon of

religious painting Christian art is sacred art which uses subjects, themes, and imagery from Christianity. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, including early Christian art and architecture and Christian media. Images of Jesus and narrative ...

. In each of her works Ellis continues to share her story incorporating different parts of her self identity. In 2017, Ellis presented "''Lick Shot"'' at 47 Canal, her first solo show in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 2018, Ellis participated in the

New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum at 235 Bowery, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-nam ...

Triennial - ''“Songs for Sabotage.”'' Then in 2019 Ellis was included in the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

curated by

Rujeko Hockley Rujeko Hockley is a New York–based US curator. Hockley is currently the Arnhold Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Life and education Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, Hockley relocated to Wa ...

and

Jane Panetta Jane Panetta is a New York City, New York-based curator and art historian. Panetta is currently an associate curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Career Curating Before working at the Whitney, Panetta spent five years in the Painting and ...

. In the 2025 exhibition "Fear Corroded Ape," her work was presented at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts is the only building designed primarily by Le Corbusier in the United States—he contributed to the design of the United Nations Secretariat Building— ...

Art career

* 2017 - "You Catch More Flies With Arsenic Than Honey” - Club Pro, Los Angeles, California * 2017 - "Cabin Fever" - BBQLA, Los Angeles California * 2017 - "Lick Shot” - 47 Canal, New York City * 2017 - "Prick Up Your Ears” - Karma International, Los Angeles, California * 2018 - “Painting: Now & Forever, Part III” - Greene Naftali, New York City * 2018 - Triennial: “Songs for Sabotage” -

, New York City * 2018 - "Keebler’s Revenge" -The American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City * 2019 - Whitney Biennial 2019,

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, New York City * 2021 - "Janiva Ellis: Rats" -

Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

* 2022 - "The Angles" - Hammer Vault Gallery, Los Angeles, California * 2025 - "Fear Corroded Ape" -

Awards

* Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant, 2018 * Stanley Hollander Award, 2018

References

External links

Janiva Ellis , Contemporary Art DailyJaniva Ellis - 30 UNDER 35 2018 - Cultured Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Janiva Living people African-American painters 1987 births Artists from Oakland, California Artists from Hawaii American contemporary painters 21st-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American artists