PUBLIC WORKS PRESS
Elliott Katz, Ramen, 11 x 14" (2017)
Reduction Woodcut
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Elliott Katz grew up on a vegetable and ornamental plant farm in rural Vermont. He and his siblings formed the backbone of the hired help, and by the time he was six he was slogging buckets of carrots and potatoes from the fields to the farm stand. This personal background as well as his Japanese and Jewish ancestry informs his art practice. Katz received his undergraduate degree from Colby College and his MFA from the University of Connecticut. He maintains a studio in Burlington, Vermont.
Commonplace objects and quotidian subject matter are realized through extraordinary efforts. Concrete blocks, cheap beer cans and worn out tools are the foundation of a working class visual language. Traditional sculpture-making techniques are spliced with art historical motifs into their everyday nature, and in turn, these objects challenge notions of beauty and perform an inversion of contemporary class structures.
