Biography
Born in Cornwall, UK, in 1965, Jason Ellis studied sculpture at the University of Chichester under Alan Saunders, a former student of Anthony Caro’s. Following his degree, he trained then worked as a sculpture conservator in London for eight years and Ireland for a further twelve, having moved to Dublin in 1994.
In 2006 he left conservation and turned exclusively to producing his own sculpture. His reputation has grown quickly and his work now features in numerous public and private collections. Public works include Bantry Boats, the Bantry House Archive Gift, Co. Cork, 1997, and The McDonogh Stone for the Druid Theatre, Galway, 2009. His largest commission, Figurehead, stands over 7 metres high and was completed for University College Dublin in 2008. In 2010 he installed Black Pool, White Water at the Garda Memorial Garden in Dublin Castle and showed -hedra at the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale.
The combination of a fine art training and twenty years spent in conservation has influenced his art practice. His immaculate carvings display a deep knowledge and appreciation of the medium of stone. His studio is a converted farm building in the Ox Mountains, Co. Sligo, where he carves for nine months of the year. In his practice he utilises pure abstraction and aspects of the human form.