Painter Ellon Gibbs’s recent canvases address humanity’s primal nature. Working in oil and acrylic, he paints what he calls “figures of the spirit” against “fever dreams” of colorful, sometimes fearsome, landscapes. His genderless, faceless figures assume postures such as crouching, grappling, embracing, or standing with a fist raised to the sky. Gibbs says the crouch signifies “birth, death and rebirth” — evoking the protective fetal position as well as prostrate prayer. His paintings equally acknowledge the awesome power of nature in the age of climate catastrophe. In his dynamic works, drama unfolds between human beings and their environment.
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