Gordon Ellis-Brown British, b. 1959

Gordon-Ellis Brown was born and raised in a small seaside hotel on the South Coast of England. Drawing on his life by the sea, his graphic design roots and time working in California and New Mexico, Gordon’s work incorporates application of pure colour, graphic iconography, photography and found objects.

Gordon’s 'Wish You Were Here' series of photographic printworks – showing here at the Porthminster Gallery, brings a new perspective to classic seaside holiday images from the 1960s and '70s revealing the hidden and often overlooked narratives of holiday life that lie beneath the surface, while retaining the original charm and humour that characterises the great British get-away. Here Gordon’s works 'curate' and 'repurpose' found objects.

With an acute sense of colour and deep observation of subjects, Gordon strives for simplicity, creating pictorial representations in their minimalist state, the contrasting chromatic shapes and planes generating movement, rhythm and spatial tension across the canvas. Playing with geometric abstraction, often on a cinematic scale, Gordon engages the viewer on a journey where everything that is non-essential has been removed.

Born in 1959, Gordon Ellis-Brown graduated in Graphic Design and Typography. His work has been exhibited widely since 1998, including three times in the Royal Academy Summer Shows (2007, 2010, 2017). Most recently he featured in Newlyn School of Art’s Group Exhibition in Penzance, Cornwall (2017), and in ‘Ten Ten’ London Art Fair (represented by Beaux Arts London). Gordon has received awards in the field of graphic design: The International Echo Award in Graphic Design; IBM Bursary for Creativity in Graphic Design. He is also a member of the Society of Industrial Artists & Designers (MSIAD), and the Society of Typographic Designers (MSTD). In 2017 he undertook the Art Mentoring Course at Newlyn School of Art.

His work is in many private collections in the UK, Germany and Switzerland.

Gordon Ellis-Brown is based in Winchester and is being represented for the first time in Cornwall by the Porthminster Gallery.