Ellen Altfest


Ellen Altfest is an American painter who lives and works in New York. She is best known for her realist depictions of landscapes and still lifes that often blur the distinction between the two genres.

Education

Altfest graduated from Cornell University with a BFA in Painting and a BA in English, an MFA in Painting from Yale, and studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

Artwork

According to art critic Randy Kennedy, Altfest is known for her "painstakingly labor-intensive canvases that look at things in the world." For example, while completing her 2013 work Tree, Altfest spent 13 months sitting in front of a tree trunk exploring the details. Altfest is also known for small-scale works. The previously mentioned Tree, an oil on canvas, is approximately the size of a piece of typing paper.
In 2007, London's White Cube gallery held a solo exhibition of her work which included the first extensive series of paintings of men. A monograph was released on the occasion of her exhibition at White Cube. Her work has featured in several prominent exhibitions, including "The Leg" at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas in 2010, "Head and Plant" at the New Museum in New York in 2012, "The Encyclopedic Palace" at the Venice Biennale in 2013, and a survey exhibition at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom in 2015.
Altfest's influences include Albrecht Dürer's The Large Turf, Jackson Pollock, Sylvia Sleigh, and Lucian Freud.
Altfest's works also include: