Elliott Sharpe is a working class queer visual artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the tradition of folk art, Sharpe speaks universal truths through individual confession; making collectively felt experiences personal. Art that intends to mirror and channel what is happening right now, without fear of being a cliche. Without formal training, Sharpe’s practice is entirely self-taught. His practice explores themes of free will, healing, love, compassion for all creatures, and the cultural necessity of aphorisms.
artistic statements, not necessarily the statement, but we’re getting there
I learned today that I am put on this earth to make art.
I do not know if this will change the way I make art or not.
I made art like I was put on this earth to make art before I knew that this was true.
I was struggling to know if I needed to do this at all for the last few weeks.
Why do I make things if other people are already making things?
Can’t I just make things and not share them with anyone?
Does it matter that I am making things at all if I don’t share them?
It bothers me so much that social media has been the only sustainable way that I have had to share my art with the world. I think that I am going to start uploading my art to my website directly & more frequently, and beginning the abandonment of social media.
When I was a kid, I visited theoatmeal.com once a day to see his art. Provided he made comics, it was such a special thing. I did not laugh as it happened upon my feed, I looked it up with the intention of seeing it. I would prefer that over people happening upon my creation in the world and then moving onto the next bright thing that will make them feel a completely different way.
The ideal situation would be that my art could just be, in a place where people can visit it, and if they really want to, they can buy the art too. Like a website that you can physically go to and experience in the real world. Maybe the door is made of frosted glass, and there is wood paneling on the walls, and orange carpet on the ground. If you are there I will make you tea and let you be. Sometimes I won’t be there at all but the tea kettle will be there.
I just think, if making art is so special to me, why am I treating it like people treat photos they take of their breakfast? I don’t want to compete to be seen. I want to opt out of that.
What do you do when it’s all happening at once and none of it is what you really want?
Slow down and consider what you can do to influence a different outcome!
In 2 years this dream will be my world, and I will feel at ease.
For right now I am grateful for the reality that I am currently in. So much work has been done to get here, and once this was a dream that I dreamed one afternoon long ago. Because that is true, I know the next parts will be true too.
New artist statement coming soon….
I think the reasons why i am doing art have changed, or maybe the things i am paying attention to are different now, and i have been spending many saturdays considering the part where i could write this all down.
It is time to tell my website that soon it will be different again
a few reasons why i am making art
Words spoken are words lost Upon failure to document
Making sense of the senseless
process what 100 people said to me today at my coffee job
Safe way to communicate my feelings and share them with the world
It is nice to look at colors and it is nice to work with them
do you need a new playlist? I've got some playlists.
I love music and I love to listen to it. I always appreciate when visual artists I follow share what music inspires their creations so here are some playlists I listen to while making art! I hope you find a new favorite artist or a new favorite album by listening through these. I definitely have favorites among these.
This One’s For The Boys is for my boys but really anyone can listen to it. You either have to be obsessed with Arthur Russell or at least open to it.
The Way Things Are is my punk playlist about how scared I am each day. I think it’s really fun.
Where Do I Place The Thought a great folk playlist….it’s not very long but it’s nice.
new techniques, a studio check in, 11/02/21
no longer held back by not owning a pencil sharpener, i am using colored pencils again.
still haven’t changed my paint water. it’s been 3 weeks.
kind of at the point where I could buy new paper and have more options, but I am pretty happy with my selection of either Big Lavender Paper or Regular Printer Paper or Gold Printer Paper.
ran out of cardstock, it is not a good thing to run out of cardstock, so maybe I should go get more.
the only oil pastels i’ve been using are the ones that are already out, not feeling up to opening their box and picking out colors to use.
finally made progress on the big piece i’ve been working on for a year, I erased 50% of it so I can start over since I don’t like it
the scanner my neighbor left downstairs for free is really coming in handy. i was able to make nice prints using a quality image. i like having the ability to scan something nice at home.
there’s not a great direction for art that I feel, mostly I just know what does well commercially and then feel myself considering that more often.
all art created is authentic but not all of it is real.
Pride is Not Always a Rainbow, Sometimes It's Just Blues
Queer as in:
inconvenient and immoral
don’t let the 11-year-old know
what will they turn into,
if they knew what options they had?
Queer as in:
my safety is invisible to most,
the world is smaller to me.
there are places I cannot go,
and people I cannot meet.
Queer as in:
my grandmother never got to know who I am,
my immediate family decided that
learning of a queer identity would cause the 93-year-old
a quick and untimely death
Queer as in:
it wouldn’t matter if I tried my best
to live out my life in the factory setting.
there would always be something off
traditional medicine could not fix.
Queer as in:
pride is not always a rainbow,
sometimes it’s just blues.
better take up an art practice
to routinely find joy.
figuring out where it should be (poem)
what is it
it is the thing
the thing that is my thing
where do i put my thing
what kind of training should i get to prepare for placing this thing
should i visit the mountaintops to see if that would be a pretty place to do the thing?
no that wouldn’t be a good idea me & the thing have never been to the mountaintops before, me & the thing would just get lost along the way.
we should plant the thing where we are so we don’t forget to do the thing
plant, do, place, taste, leave, bleed, forget
Interview about Art & Theology with Jennifer Awes Freeman
lean into God (poem)
holding too tightly to fear may
weaken and drain the man.
loosen your grip and
lean into God
good intentions (poem)
just be the place you started to find;
where wounded trees steer clear of the peachy afterlife,
liquid engraved necklace means no harm or injury.
reduced sensational experience