Biographical Information for Elliott Earls
1989 - Fired from Deharak and Poulin Associates NYC for "general incompetence."
1995 - Received MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
1995 - Fired from Elektra Records for "general incompetence."
1995 - Formed Apollo Program Studio.
1997 - Released Throwing Apples at the Sun.
1999 - Awarded Wooster Group Emerging Artist Grant.
2000 - Performed at Exit Fesitval Cretiel France.
2000 - 9 months as Artist in Residence at Fabrica, Treviso, Italy. (Commute from NYC).
2001 - Appointed Designer In Residence Cranbrook Academy of Art.
2002 - Released Catfish 55 Minute DVD.
2004 - Bull and Horse Exhibition of recent work opens at Cranbrook Art Museum.
2004 - Nominated for Blueprint Magazine(UK) Designer of the Year.
2006 - Music Hall debut of Bull and Wounded Horse performance.
2007 - Music Hall debut of The Saranay Motel performance.
2008 - Wolfsonian Museum / Art Basel Miami Beach debut of Thoughts on Democracy.
2009 - First public screening of The Saranay Motel - feature length narrative film.
2009 - AXA VIP Lounge Installation / Art Basel Miami Beach acquired by Miami Art Museum.
Elliott Earls is a designer, performance artist, and musician. Earls’ hybrid multimedia work blurs distinctions between high and low, performance and object, design and art. Earls is currently Designer-In-Residence and head of the graduate graphic design program at Cranbrook Academy of Art. As a designer his work is part of the permanent collection of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. The writer Rick Poynor has said of Elliott: "If ever a designer seemed like a certified oddball, pursuing a trajectory far removed from the obligations of institutional life, it is Earls. He is one of those unclassifiable, mutant blooms thrown up by the fractured landscape of 1990's graphic design."
Earls began his performance career in 1997 with a series of performances at Here, The Independent Art Center in New York City. In 1999 Earls was awarded an Emerging Artist grant by Manhattan's Wooster Group, and was a featured performer at the Wooster Group's Performing Garage. He has performed extensively in Europe and America at venues including; the Exit Festival at Maison des Arts et de la Culture in Créteil France, The Culture Mart Festival at Here in New York City, The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis Minnesota, Experimenta 99 in Lisbon Portugal, and at Opera Totale in Venice, Italy. In May of 2002, Earls in association with California based Emigre Incorporated released Catfish, an experimental documentary film. Catfish traces Earls’ work from the lab to the stage in a highly manipulated digital film incorporating, animation, stop motion photography, drawing, typography and live action into a seamless performance documentary. In October 2009, Earls test screened his feature length narrative film The Saranay Motel at the Palladium theater in Birmingham, Michigan.
After years of solo musical work, in September 2005 Earls formed the band The Venomous Sons of Jonah and recorded The Sessions at Christ Church Cranbrook for Cash Advance Records. In January 2006 Earls wrote produced and performed Bull and Wounded Horse a multimedia performance piece and installation that debuted at Music Hall Detroit with special guests The Venomous Sons of Jonah. In April 2007 Earls wrote produced and performed The Saranay Motel a multimedia performance piece that once again debuted at Music Hall Detroit. In December 2008 Earls was commissioned by the Wolfsonian Museum to produce a new performance piece entitled Thoughts on Democracy. The performance piece debuted at the Wolfsonian Museum's special VIP opening at Art Basel Miami Beach 2008. Over the course of a six month period in 2009, Earls collaborated with Beverly Fishman, William Massie and Heather McGill on a multi-media installation for the AXA Art Insurance Corporation's VIP lounge at Art Basel Miami Beach 09. Upon the close of the event, the installation entitled Miami Viceroy .1 was acquisitioned to the permanent collection of the Miami Art Museum.
Earls has work in private collections, and has exhibited work at the Wolfsonian Museum, Flint Institute of Arts, Lincoln Center, Subliminal Projects and the Palazzo La Triennial Di Milano among many others. Earls spent September 2000 through May 2001 as Artist-in-Residence at Fabrica, Benetton's studio research center in Treviso, Italy. Earls has spent time at numerous American universities, and he has given workshops and lectures on design, culture and media in Europe and America.
In 2001 Earls was a finalist for the Chrysler National Design Award in New Media. Earls work has been comprehensively reviewed in numerous and diverse publications including The New York Times, Urb, Punk Planet, Heckler, Design Observer and Emigre Magazine.
Interested in slightly more biographical information on Elliott Earls?
Watch this eight minute short produced by Debbie Millman and Zoom In Online in association with Adobe and the AIGA.
| Sunday, November 18, 2007 8:39 AM |
Debbie Millman |
|---|
Design Matters Live is an on-going series based on the Adobe/AIGA live version of Debbie Millman’s highly acclaimed and much listened to internet radio show, Design Matters. In this first episode, Debbie talks to the multimedia artist, Elliot Earls, about his experimental non-linear digital videos, spoken word poetry, music, typography and the inspirational leap he made from commercial graphic artist to teacher, mentor and self-made artist.
Elliott Earls has lectured extensively. To view a few minutes from a recent lecture click here...
Monica Breen's photographs of Elliott Earls studio are here...