Nigel Ellis

Nigel Ellis was born in Old Stevenage in 1960, and studied at St Alban's College of Art (1978-79), Canterbury College of Art (1979-82) and Chelsea School of Art (1983-1984). He now lives and works in Shoreditch, in East London.

A series of events led to a decisive moment in Nigel Ellis's future career as a sculptor. In 1976 he saw the complete sculptures of Degas at the Lefevre Gallery, and he embarked on a course in 3D design. The idea of looking at an everyday object, in his case a water tap, as if it were transparent, drawing as though he could see the object from sides that were hidden, helped him to see things in a new way. The inner qualities of the Degas sculptures made him aware that material things carried elements which are invisible.

The body of work which followed was an attempt to externalise actual sensation as if the signals of the nervous system in certain significant poses were on view. This was the beginning of a quest which still continues. Ellis sees his work as a search for 'sustained awareness'. He wants to see 'sculpture that is an authentic and rigorous embodiment of experience without in any way depicting it'. He is also fascinated by the formal, imaginative and optical explorations of modernism, particularly in Britain, in the early sixties. His works have become increasingly architectural over recent years, and colour, geometry and repeated forms all have their place in his work.

Nigel Ellis was involved in the development of the Florence Trust which provides studio space for artists in London. He exhibits his work regularly and has recently made a series of computer enhanced photographs with the National Trust.