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Words w/ Dana Ellyn + “Divinely Irreverent” Preview

J.  Young: How would you describe your painting style?

Dana Ellyn: I like to think of my style as sitting on the fence between social realism and expressionism. Having spent my entire childhood and college years honing my skills and striving to  be technically correct, I have now spent the past 8  years trying to unlearn those habits, loosen up and infuse more meaning and emotion in to every painting I create.

Every one of my paintings has a story. It is very important to me that my work has meaning. Of course, there are the occasional more frivolous and fun paintings that are simply celebrating, for example, the joys of drinking. But, for the most part, I spend almost as much time brainstorming on what to paint as I do creating the paintings themselves. I have sketchbooks full of written notes and only the best ones find their way to becoming painted images.

Humor is just as subjective as art. I think that’s part of the reason my art can tend to be polarizing. My brand of humor combined with my style of rendering can go either way. Love it or hate it. But I’d much rather that than the alternative – I’d hate for someone to walk right past one of my paintings and not notice it. I was shy, quite and reserved as a child. I think I’m making up for lost time.

I said in an interview recently that I have a line I will not cross wtih my work. The interviewer was shocked. Truly, he was shocked that I had thoughts and ideas that were “worse” than the stuff he’d seen in my paintings. Well, believe it or not, I do have limits. I will write down ideas and give them plenty of consideration before deciding whether or not to make them in to paintings.  It’s funny because as I watch some of my favorite shows and comedians (Family Guy, Sarah Silverman, Lisa Lampanelli) I laugh my ass off while saying to myself “you see, they went farther than I ever would”. So at least I know other people are crossing a line that’s farther afield than mine!

All words and show preview after the jump:

J. Young: Tell us about the reaction to your past show on Blasphemy Day…

D. Ellyn: On September 30, 2009, I had a solo exhibit at the Center for Inquiry (CFI) DC in conjunction with their first International Blasphemy Day. I was invited to exhibit my work by the executive director of CFI after she was introduced to my work through a mutual friend on Facebook.  One of the topics I occasionally tackle in my paintings is that of religion. Back in May 2009, I exhibited about 15 paintings at Artomatic that all adhered to this theme. Here’s a link to more about the Artomatic show and images of the work I exhibited:]

http://danaellyn.com/press/aom2009/wall.html

I put up a notebook on my exhibit wall and I received at least 10 pages of comments which were 95% positive. It was incredibly gratifying and comforting to hear from so many people who agreed with my point of view and, even if they didn’t fully agree, they appreciated my sense of humor. On top of all that, I sold the majority of the pieces on the show. All of that encouraged me to continue creating more paintings in the same vain. But then again, even had the response been negative, I would not have stopped expressing my views on religion through my paintings.

Then, there was the reactions to my show for International Blasphemy Day….

The work I exhibited in this exhibit was no more controversial than the paintings I showed at Artomatic. But, the response was much different. Instead of 95% positive, the pendulum swung to 95% negative. There are a few key reasons I can give to explain this shift:

My audience at Artomatic knew they were coming to see an art show… .and they were ready to expect the unexpected.

My audience for the CFI exhibit were introduced to my paintings through the media and under the broader umbrella of being a part of the Blasphemy Day celebration. I think that since my paintings were introduced as “Blasphemous” people viewed them much differently than if they had just seen them generically – without being told they were offensive first. Kind of like when Fox news leads in to a news story with “this next segment is really going to make your blood boil”.  But I digress… don’t get me started on Fox news (or, ask me about the interview I did with them…)     The first article about the show was written by the Religion News Service (RNS) – “The only secular news and photo service devoted to unbiased coverage of religion and ethics—exclusively” (  http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext/next_week_blasphemy_gets_its_own_holiday1/ ) So, although they are a ‘secular’ news source, that does not mean their readers are secular. Several days after the article went online, RNS told me that it received more comments on this article than on any other article in the history of their news service. And the comments very often spewed hatred. Some of that hatred directed right at me. A couple of examples:

you are going to hell ellyn

she’s NOT a child of God

Dana Ellyn is a gutless non-wonder

go ahead, have your little show. God will get you. Oh, and by then, you’ll know for sure that He’s real.

It wasn’t easy dealing with all the comments and negativity at first. I wanted to write back to each and every person who wrote and clarify where I was coming from, why I paint what I paint and explain my intentions. It was painful to know that so many people were so angry and I was the direct cause of their anger. But I found my balance. I realize that for some, it would not matter what I said or what my reasons, I had offended them and their religion and their god and there is zero excuse to be given in their eyes. I also realized that there are plenty of people out there who do agree with what I am doing. But, unfortunately in this internet world in which we live, I think that people who are upset are the only ones who take the time to comment. It makes them feel better to be able to vent. Those who agree simply agree and go on with their day.

My audience at Artomatic (with the exception of any tourists that might have found their way there) is DC (VA/MD) residents…… let’s just say a much more liberal crowd than many other parts of the US.

My exhibit at CFI got amazing press coverage (USA Today, CNN to name a few) which opened me up to a national audience.

The stated purpose of International Blasphemy Day was this:

International Blasphemy Day is not just a day. It is a movement to dismantle the wall which exists between religion and criticism. The objective of International Blasphemy Day is to open up all religious beliefs to the same level of free inquiry, discussion and criticism to which all other areas of academic interest are subjected.

When I read that statement, I signed on to do the exhibit without hesitation. What I did not know until the first article was published about my exhibit & the day is that SEpt 30th was picked because it was the anniversary of the 2005 publication of the Danish cartoons of Mohammed that led to worldwide riots. Honestly, had I known that, I would have taken pause before saying yes. I at least would have been prepared to deal with the firestorm that was headed my way. All of the accusations of “why don’t you paint about Mohammed, are you chicken?” “Why do you only pick on Jesus?” And on and on and on…  My answer is this…. I paint about Jesus (and catholic/christian/jewish themes) because that is my background. I paint my reactions to my world and my experiences. I don’t paint them just to be inflammatory. They are simply personal commentary. I have no personal experience and no real knowledge of the Muslim religion so I have no grounds to comment about it.

As I said in my interview with CNN ( http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/09/30/first.blasphemy.day/ ) “”I am in no way trying to be a poster child for atheism,” Ellyn said. “But I don’t want to be punished for not believing in God.” And, Moni Basu (the reporter who interviewed me and wrote the aritcle went on to say “Ellyn said she never means to harm anyone, so she finds it frightening that someone could be punished — or lose their life — over remarks or actions considered blasphemous. An Afghan student journalist was sentenced to death for distributing a paper that allegedly blasphemed Islam. A British schoolteacher spent time in a Sudanese jail after she allowed her students to name teddy bears after Mohammed.”

J. Young: How did that feed into “Divinely Irreverent”?

D. Ellyn: After my last show, someone described my work as ”divinely irreverent”. And, it stuck. I thought it would make the perfect moniker for my show at Evolve. It embraces the irreverent (definition: satirical) messages I try to illustrate in my paintings. And, it plays off the double entendre of divine – 1) pertaining to god 2) extremely good or unusually lovely.

My collection of work for Divinely Irreverent can be described as pictorial questioning of America’s religious and social traditions.

“Divinely Irreverent” is in part a reaction to and celebration of my exhibit for Blasphemy Day. I could have gone in several different directions. One, I could have hid in the corner in the fetal position and never again painted an image of Jesus or commented on the world through my lens of agnosticism. Second, I could have grabbed hold of the media attention and milked it for all it was worth. I had the opportunity to pursue interviews with several other high profile media outlets.  But, I decided to step back and keep to my personal values and my vision for my art. I did not want to become some sort of poster child for the atheism. Yes, I’m a non-believer. But, it’s such a small aspect of the overall body of work I’ve created. Out of countless hundreds of paintings, such a small percentage of them are actually about anything religious in nature. i didn’t want the Blasphemy show or the paintings in it to define me or my work. I paint about social issues, politics and my own personal story. And, I’d like to keep going down that path – and not be pigeon holed in to being “that woman who paints Jesus”. No thanks. It’s too big and too fascinating or a world to be obsessed with just one issue.

All that said, I took the third option – keep doing what I’m doing. No more, no less.

J. Young: Any specific works that you think stand out in this show?

D. Ellyn: I have a few favorites but the 2 newest ones stand out the most to me. Perhaps because they are just the freshest in my mind? I’ll leave it up to the viewers to pick their favorites. But the paint and message is the freshest in “Bull in a China Shop” and “Children of the Corn Syrup”.

The idea behind “Bull in a China Shop” is to show that it’s not cute happy elves making your toys for Christmas – but instead many are being made in sweat shops by kids under horrible conditions. Perhaps I’m just a cynic but I seem to take pleasure in coming up with images that take aim debunking at fables. A few of my favorite elements in the painting are the red nose that is strapped on to the bull and the image of the Forbidden City – that at first glance appears to be the lovely view out of the factory window but it is in fact just an image painted on the roll down shade pulled over the window.