George Elkanah - Artist

Artist statement and bio

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. 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.

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.