Elijah Ford
BOU.
October 3rd - December 12th, 2020
AERO SALON is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by Los Angeles-based artist, Elijah Ford. In this show, entitled BOU., a formidable population of characters, personages, creatures and things band together and play out and apart in a turbulent pool of fantasy and intricately fictive narrative. People abound in Ford’s images, but certainty regarding their status as human, god, android, alien or cartoon is always in question, always in flux. These are taxonomically variable beings. They emerge in the theater of Ford’s universe, a universe that blurs the lines between what we believe to be real and unreal, between dream and stark wakeful consciousness.
A statement from the artist: “I want the viewer to feel the passion and deep thought in my work. To achieve this I mix unconscious elements with tropes from painting history, blend them with contemporary imagery and juxtapose personal experiences onto the aggregate. My style is classical paint handling, combined with a surrealist thought process which also includes Japanese woodblock print influence. As a painter I have learned to dissect what I see, I take mental notes of every color and contour I come across, watching the trees, or absorb a gaze in face to face conversation. It is important as an artist to know and change the socio-economic issues that effect my community, but the politics are not blatant in the form of my work. I base my work in an era that most people believe has not come upon us, I mean for it to be the golden age after tumultuous times. Something regal can come from immense inherited damage. This idea can easily be overlooked, but the visceral experience of my paintings stain the viewers thoughts and bring these ideas to their unconscious mind through traditional methods, without exploiting culture. I would like my work to be a part of the hope people seek in humanity.”
Originally from the Inland Empire and currently residing in Los Angeles, Elijah Ford received a BA from California State University San Bernardino in 2011 and an MFA in Painting from California Institute of the Arts in 2014. Ford's work has been exhibited with Nick Kochornswasdi Gallery, O’Project Space, Cirrus Gallery, and Channel Islands Art Center. His work been published in Hero Magazine and Barbed Magazine.
