“I spent a lot of time in the woods growing up,” said painter Scott Daniel Ellison, whose exhibition “Iowa, Ohio” opened last night at ClampArt in New York. “I spent an equal amount of time watching late night horror films and reading ‘Fangoria.’ I sort of tap into this part of my life from time to time, especially for these new paintings.” Those works are raw and loaded with an enigmatic symbolism: images of bats, claw-like hands, and green-skinned forest bogeymen. Ellison shared his current studio playlist, from Black Sabbath to the Delta Blues.
“Loom of the Land,” Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
“Just a sad, beautiful song from a great album. As a teenager I would collect magazine photos of and articles about Nick Cave and keep them in a scrapbook of sorts. There was one clipping in particular that I was really fond of, a photo of him and his shadow against a barn wall. The shadow, all hunched over and grumpy, seems to have taken on a creepy, comical life of its own; it may have found a way into one of my paintings, in spirit, at least.”
“Triangle Walks,” Fever Ray
“Karin Dreijer Andersson seems to tap into a Nordic shamanism that pre-dates modern history. Since I was a child I have always been interested in paganism and witchcraft, mostly because it scared me. I hear a lot of that same curiosity in her music, and her stage costumes and make-up. Although her music is mostly electronic it comes off in tone as being both acoustic and ancient. I’m also a big fan of the Knife, her band with her brother. I was living in Sweden when I first became aware of her and her music and I was hooked instantly.”
“Crying,” Roy Orbison
“My parents listened to a lot of great music when I was growing up. I really took to Roy Orbison. He’s often on in the background while I’m painting or driving. For me, he’s someone you want to listen to when you’re all alone. He seemed quite vulnerable and unapologetically self-conscious when he sang, his voice sweet and childlike with its nasal tone.”
“Changes,” Black Sabbath
“I grew up listening to a lot of heavy metal just by being in earshot of it much of the time. My brother Vincent’s room was covered in Metallica and Iron Maiden posters. He was in there a lot with his friends blasting AC/DC, Megadeth, and Slayer all summer long. There was, of course, a lot of frightening imagery associated with these bands that I was drawn to — much more than the music itself — and that imagery pops up in my paintings from time to time. Later in life I came back to the music with a new appreciation.”
“Dust My Broom,” James Son Thomas
“I’m on a Delta Blues kick right now. James Son Thomas also created small clay heads and skulls — with real human teeth — that blend seamlessly with his music. It’s all just one piece. He was also a gravedigger. Although I’m a northern soul I have an outsider’s fascination with the folklore of the south. I lived in North Carolina for a couple years and my parents live there now. I get to New Orleans when I can and usually don’t want to leave. You hear a lot of stories about swamp beasts and ghosts when you’re down there.”
