Ellen Hallie Schiff

My paintings explore sexuality and emotional ambiguity. Gestural marks in bold colors interact with generous swaths of paint, knife scrapings and energetic oil-stick lines. The erotic and ambiguous is obvious in my paintings of the female figure, but I also see the male-female dialogue in groupings of lipsticks, high-heeled shoes, fruit or even just the pigment. I grapple with themes of power, control and exposure every time I paint.