Theo Ellison graduated from the Royal College of Art in June 2017 and is interested in evolutionary aesthetics, art history, and iconoclasm. His work looks into the relationship between human behaviour and art-making; why we create images and how we consume them.
Ellison is looking to peel back the layers of illusion that encase this relationship to reveal certain mechanics that may be unavoidable in our engagement with images. By exposing our vulnerability to the power of the image, the work has a recurring friction that simultaneously indulges in and questions the voyeuristic aspects of visual representation, where the distinction between observation and voyeurism is no longer apparent.
Using references to art history as recognisable points of contact, Ellison blurs the line between attraction and repulsion in order to deconstruct our relationship to the image.
