AMERICAN STREET ARTIST CHRIS DAZE ELLIS’s FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION IN TURKEY

“PEOPLE AND PLACES”

Sevil Dolmacı Istanbul hosts American graffiti artist and painter Chris Daze Ellis’s first solo exhibition in Turkey from 24 November 2023 to 31 January 2024. The exhibition titled “People and Places” is composed of the artist’s canvas, ceramic, and paper works.

Sevil Dolmacı Istanbul presents American graffiti artist and painter Chris Daze Ellis’s first solo show in Turkey titled “People and Places”, between 24 November 2023 and 31 January 2024.  The show consists of Ellis’s productions in his studio in America and the works which he has created in Istanbul when he participated in the gallery’s art residency programme in 2022.

Chris Daze Ellis is one of the few artists of his generation to make the successful transition from the subways to the studio. In the 1980s, DAZE was among the street artists supported by Andy Warhol and produced works and took part in group exhibitions with legendary artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf and Futura. As an artist, Chris Daze Ellis’s main aim is to capture the everyday scenes, which he is either a part of or witness to in his daily life, and communicate his impressions and observations through his art. As its very name signifies, the exhibition is related to the people whom Ellis has observed on the buses, streets, and subways and the places which he has passed by as a part of his day-to-day commute in New York City, the fabled city nicknamed ‘the big apple’.

Through “People and Places”, the artist is inviting the viewer for a subway commute that might look pleasant from the outside but is no less chaotic and dysfunctional. The passengers might find themselves re-routed to a ‘not-so-pleasant’ place. One striking image the viewer sees is an empty subway seat which he paints purposefully to make it easier for the viewer to imagine themselves in that seat and become a part of the ride. Regarding the people in his works, they are neither photo-realistic nor comic renditions, but collected from the memories of those Daze has seen on the streets. In his own words, “they are the citizens he has passed by in a split second but who have made some kind of subconscious impression.”

Chris Daze Ellis (b.1962, New York) began his long and productive career painting the New York City subway cars in 1976 while attending the High School of Art and Design. Chris Daze Ellis is one of the few artists of his generation to make the successful transition from the subways to the studio.

The viewers are invited to become a part of and witness to Daze’s daily commute in New York City and create their own experience by either reconnecting to their own day-to-day journey in the cities they live in or using their imagination as to what kind of people, places, or stories they would run into on the buses, subways or streets with the exhibition “People and Places” between 24 November 2023 and 31 January 2024.