Frances, Ellen

Ellen Frances is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York City.

Her practice merges painting, writing, and performance — with inspiration rooted in historical research and classical sensuality. She is a self-taught painter, designer and filmmaker.

In May, 2023, Ellen presented paintings and conceptual performance works at VOLTA International Art Fair with Wadström Tönnheim Gallery (Spain). This summer Ellen will be the first artist to work at W.B. Yeats’s tower as a resident where she will present work in honor of the centenary of his Nobel Prize win. Future group shows of paintings and performance include Mana Contemporary, KuBe Art Center and her solo show will open Spring 2024 at The Java Project Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

Ellen’s current performance art pieces involve extensive research into the theatrical arts -- from Picasso and Dali sets, to the fluid dance of Duncan and Marceau’s mastery of mime. Her work includes written librettos, movement monologues and silent poetry called “Poetry of Gesture”. In these works she expresses her poetry via pantomime before painted backdrops, in costumes of her own design. The project premiered February 2023 at Beckett Rosset’s underground salon in the West Village. Her first-hand account of presenting this project is included alongside an interview with Rosset in the April 2023 issue of The Brooklyn Rail and appeared in the New York Times. The project will continue development during residencies in Europe this summer where Ellen will present work in the glass atrium of the historic Killruddery estate, Co. Wicklow, Ireland.

As a dancer Ellen has worked under the direction of legendary NY City Ballet choreographer Todd Bolender, and with William Whitener at Kansas City Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet company, contemporary choreographer Karole Armitage and experimental sound artist Jason Lescalleet. Ellen trained at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, ABT and the HARID Conservatory. She is an active member of AGMA.

Ellen’s essays and criticism have been published in ArtNet, The Brooklyn Rail, The Art Newspaper and WhiteHot Contemporary Art Magazine.

Instagram @ellen.frances