"One of the most intriguing, creative photographers I've ever encountered. His work is of genius level, in that it explores a new form: miniaturism, that he has seemingly invented. He shoots tiny details from the environment that are color- and composition-worthy. When enlarged to 'picture' sizes, as one finds in any art gallery, the miniatures expand into something formally dramatic and aesthetically amazing. Each work, enlarged, has its own origin -- painted curb, graffiti, industrial materials -- but when seen as formatted, creates a post-Modern abstract expressionism from a fresh and vital source of imagery: the details of the street that go unnoticed by most of us."
Michael J. Miller
Gallery Director
San Francisco
"Years ago, I saw an incredibly beautiful painting by a Russian artist, a "portrait" of a worn down pencil stub, an oil on canvas that must have been six feet by three feet, an impressionist work of real power and gravitas, ultimately a reminder of how lovely an object can be that in the course of our daily lives we might pick up an simply throw away as no longer useful -- "found" art, if you will. Tony Ellis' photographs have the same affect on me -- he finds with his painter's eye bits and pieces of the real world that we would never notice in the course of our busy lives, and transforms them into spectacular abstract works that hauntingly resonate with us. Bravo!"
Steve Kurzfeld
Film and Television Writer, Producer
...
"I am particularly interested in using locally sourced images to bring to light surprising instances of beauty hidden in places you might pass by everyday without noticing. I first became interested in these images, while working on renewable energy projects in Colorado and California. I began photographing accidental textures, shapes and colors found in the western high plains and deserts and in the back alleyways of Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. When my photographs started to attract the interest of gallery owners, I began experimenting with a mixture of digital technology and traditional fine art skills to turn these images into large scale contemporary abstract pieces in a variety of mediums, including sheet metal, glass, canvas, acrylic, paper, and fabric."—Tony Ellis
Tony Ellis holds a Degree in Fine Art (Sculpture form the University of West England). After graduating from college, he spent many years traveling the globe working for educational non-profit organizations, before landing in the United States thirty years ago. Apart from work in renewable energy, he has been a freelance writer and editor and is also a published poet.