Elliott Routledge : EUPHORIA

Solana Beach, California – Announcing our first public opening in over two years, Madison Gallery welcomes Australian painter, sculptor and muralist, Elliott Routledge (FUNSKULL) in his inaugural US solo exhibition, EUPHORIA.

EUPHORIA is a collection of large-scale paintings that dance around the concept of happiness and the melange of emotions that live alongside it. Balanced compositions of audacious, intensely saturated colors are overlaid and floated amongst the obscured iconic smiley face symbol, which has become an intrinsic part of Routledge’s visual mantra. As we reemerge from the last two years, these paintings act as a reflection of ourselves in a type of celebration of the sudden euphoria we are about to experience in the new world. We are posed with the question of who we are, what is our life’s purpose and how do we paint the new version of our own happiness.

With these works Routledge is seeking to create a singular sense of harmony and euphoria without any one of the shapes or gestural marks being the same or being restricted to any given line or angle. A montage of uniquely individual elements, living together on the canvas to create the one emotion or being. Not constricted to the borders of the canvas, the work fractures over the edge and interacts with the walls and environment surrounding it, giving the audience the role of imagining where the piece starts and ends. Much like his public large-scale murals, there is ultimately a sense of pure joy to be experienced within the abstract and bright hued microcosm being portrayed.

Elliott’s practice spans across canvas paintings, sculpture, and large-scale public works. He was a feature of the Art & About Festival in Sydney and the SODO Track international mural festival in Seattle, USA, and has also been shown in the Museums Quartier, Vienna as a part of his 2014 Residency. He has collaborated with Nike, Converse, Moncler, RVCA and Mercedes AMG.