elkanah.art@gmail.com
(214) 493-3077

I, George Elkanah (b. 1976, Adak, Alaska), am a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist. My aesthetics emerge from some combination of charcoal, oil stick, oil, pixels, and AI. My inclination is to make everything conceptual. My compulsion is to stop that from happening.

Isolation often sets the tone in my mind. Making art is meditative. I like people who have a solitary quality about them, especially when they're not alone. Maybe they’re focused. Maybe they’re sad. Maybe they’re bored or content. Ideally, I'm projecting.

My subject matter often draws from the banal memories of things I’ve seen and done (like going to bars, beaches, doctor visits, or watching tv). I like the idea of immortalizing an experience that is only worth remembering because it was habit or there was some necessity for having done it. Perhaps it’s related to the impulse of wanting to turn nothing into something. I don’t feel beholden to any kind of truth related to my experiences. The memory is just the setting. I’m not sure if that makes my work a lie, but I hope it kinda does (especially if the lie is pointless or invisible).

My background is in advertising and the reflex of creating ads is found scattered throughout my work. For me, this is more about the process of creating ads than it is about referencing iconic brands. This process is familiar, meditative and, most importantly, void of market-driven feedback. So, my ads are my own, often unpolished and confusing, or abstract. Sometimes they’re made with pixels, sometimes they’re made in paint and sometimes they’re made with both. Every so often I’ll feel the urge to make a statement.

Select solo exhibitions

2023: What does it mean when I say hamburger?, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee

2021: Loaded, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee

2014: Post Persuasion, Fresh Arts Gallery, Houston

Select group exhibitions

2023: Summer Salon, Cloudtree Gallery, Austin

2021: YIPPEE-KI-YAY MOTHERFUCKER, Sí Gallery, Austin

2019: New Contemporary: High Art, Low Art, and Everything in Between, Keep Contemporary, Santa Fe

2019: Art in the Atrium 17, Frisco Heritage Museum, Frisco

2018: Soapbox, Silver Street Studios, Houston

2018: 33rd Annual International Exhibit, Meadows Gallery, Tyler

2014: WAI™ATE, Eastdown Warehouse, Houston

2013: Nature vs. Nurture, GDCA Gallery, Los Angeles

Recognition

2021: Studio Visit Magazine, Volume 47, Featured series: Exploiting the public domain