ELLI EGILSSON

Elli Egilsson (b. 1981) is a self taught oil painter born and raised in Reykjavík, Iceland but currently lives and works in Las Vegas, NV.
I have a studio just off the Las Vegas Strip where the landscape is much different than what I paint as I prefer to have no distractions from my surroundings, a total opposite of the topic that I’m creating.

What I am painting and why I chose this topic, landscape, is simply to interpret my memories of my homeland how I remember it, by raising the awareness of how much Iceland has been affected due to the consequences of global warming.  Glaciers are melting and have been nearly continuously losing volume since 1995. The glaciers are responding to the warming of the climate and even if the warming would suddenly stop, the glaciers would still continue to lose volume.  

From what I remember as a kid raised up in Iceland, on Christmas Eve, the grounds were covered with thick layers of milky snow while today Icelanders are lucky enough if they see a glimpse of a light thin white coat for a day or two. Therefor I feel like it is my obligation to paint this beautiful untouched landscape of my home country for others to enjoy and to remember it by in the near future. My work is to simply reflect a reminder for our future generations of what the world looked like during these present times by exhibiting it with coats of varnished classic oil paint on linen like our past masters left behind for us and our generations to remember the history of the state of the world seen by the artist’s perspective.  

I’ve developed a continuous series of work based particularly on the shape and texture of uninhabited lava fields covered with snow and moss. This is something that I will continue to develop and evolve with my techniques in texture, light and layers of natural brush strokes. 



ELLI EGILSSON (1981) er sjálfmenntaður myndlistarmaður fæddur og uppalinn í Reykjavík, en hefur starfað síðustu misseri í Los Angeles og Las Vegas, þar sem hann er búsettur.

Verk Ella eru unnin eftir ímynduðum myndformum íslenskrar náttúru, eins og hún formast í skapandi hugsun, engir sérstakir staðir hafðir í huga, pensillinn látinn ráða för og verkin máluð á draumkenndan hátt með heimagerðum olíulitum þar sem listamaðurinn notar sína eigin olíulitaformúlu.

Landslagsverkin einkennast af ofurnákvæmni í framsetningu áferðar og litameðferðar. Grafísk teikningin er gjarnan full af næmri tilfinningu fyrir hrjúfleika fjallsins, en sömuleiðis leikur hann sér að fínlegum línum þess þannig að úr verður samtvinnuð heildarmynd.  Elli leitast við að sýna sterkbyggð form landslagsins, en úr þeim hefur hann þróað samfellda seríu málverka, sem byggir jafnt á stórbrotnu landslagi óbyggða Íslands sem og mýkt og mismunandi áferðum ósnortinnar náttúru.

“Verk mín eru einfaldlega minningar fyrir komandi kynslóðir, sýna landslagið eins og það verður til í hugarheimi mínum, raunverulegt en ímyndun í bland.  Málarar fyrri tíma hafa skilið eftir sig stórbrotin listaverk sem lýsa því hvernig þeir sáu heiminn í kringum sig, veröld sem þá var.  Mig langar að skilja eftir mig mína sýn, mitt sjónarhorn á náttúrunni og óbyggðum landsins, fyrir komandi kynslóðir að upplifa og njóta.”

Exhibitions:

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2015

2013

2012

2011

2010

‘Sammála’ — duo show with Egill Eðvarðsson
GALLERY PORT — Reykjavik, Iceland



‘Jólasýning Listvals’ — group show
LISTVAL HARPA — Reykjavik, Iceland

‘Jólagestir’ — group show
GALLERY PORT — Reykjavik, Iceland

‘Nevada’ — solo exhibition
ÞULA — Reykjavik, Iceland

‘Samsýning’ — group show
ÞULA — Reykjavik, Iceland



‘Jólagestir’ — group show
GALLERY PORT — Reykjavik, Iceland

‘A Fine Line Between’ — solo exhibition
ABV Gallery — Atlanta, GA



‘Jólagestir’ — group show
GALLERY PORT — Reykjavik, Iceland

‘Efnisþættir’ — solo exhibition
GALLERY PORT — Reykjavik, Iceland



‘Frá Upphafi’ — solo exhibition
NÚLLIР— Reykjavik, Iceland

‘Hugarfar’ — solo exhibition
NORR11 — Reykjavik, Iceland



‘Ólíkir Heimar / Higher Contrast’ — solo exhibition
NORR11 — Reykjavik, Iceland



‘Organs’ — duo exhibition w/ Sigga Heimis 
Hannesarholt — Reykjavik, Iceland



‘Hringrás’ — group show
Tasty Space — Las Vegas, NV

‘Hringrás’ — group show
DesignMarch at Mokka — Reykjavik, Iceland



‘Fifty/Fifty’ — group show
ABV Gallery — Atlanta, GA

‘Greyscale’ — group show
ABV Gallery — Atlanta, GA



‘Evilution’ — solo exhibition
ABV Gallery — Atlanta, GA



‘Overseas & Undertones’ — group show
Basel Castle at Miami Art Basel — Miami, FL

‘Overseas & Undertones’ — group show
ABV Gallery — Atlanta, GA

‘ÖÖ: Was It A Dream?’ — group show
Galleri Duerr — Stockholm, Sweden