The American South is a land of strained history and ever-healing wounds. Ellen DeLoach, a native of Cobb County, GA, seeks to extract the spiritual essence of place, unearthing soil rich in turmoil and triumph. 

 

Mixed media works like Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield are at once violent and graceful. In her Nesting series, DeLoach has removed the idea of the horizon line altogether, leaving raw, emotive color and texture. Though she works in a variety of media including oil, fiber, collage and encaustic, her process is most deeply rooted in drawing. Energetic contour lines, both 2D and 3D, wind through her thickly layered compositions.

DeLoach’s figurative pieces complement rather than contradict her landscapes, turning ideas of destruction, scarring and forgiveness inward to the female form. Layers of melted, carved wax suggest both plowed toil and torn flesh. Inspired by the Biblical story of Ruth, DeLoach’s women exude both physical and spiritual resilience.

Her landscape and figures also act as stand-ins for her own personal adversities. Her testimony is reinforced by the autobiographical materials she plants within her paintings from familiar dirt to the wedding gown that she wore as a bride of only seventeen.

Josef Glimer
Josepf Glimer Gallery, Chicago, IL