Hunter College painting studio, 2010
Elvis’s formal Arts training began at Hunter College, where he studied Studio Arts and Filmmaking from 2006 to 2011. In the Arts program he focused on film photography, screen-printing, and painting - which emerged as his preferred medium. In the two dissertations he was required to submit, he focused on Jackson Pollock - the breakdown of painting to its material components and capturing movement in action - for the first one, and Anselm Kiefer - developing a visual language for memory and imagination - for the second one.
First painting created in the Hunter College Arts Program, 2007
Drip Figures, 2007
In his early work, Elvis experiments with collage, using magazine and newspaper cutouts as a base for his works on paper. By layering paint drips, splatters, and distressing the surface with sharp tools and sand paper, he plays with the idea of concealing and revealing areas of the images.
Quintyptic, 2009
Early into his exploration of subject matter, Elvis develops an affinity for referential abstraction. In Quintyptic, which was his final presentation for his Intro To Painting class, he loosely depicts the pillars of justice and religion collapsing, which marks the beginning of his visual study of rigid systems buckling and melting away into abstraction.
Untitled, 2010
Mural, 2010
Upon graduating and losing access to the studio space he’d been using over the previous years, Elvis refocused his energy on building a career as a set designer and prop stylist - working mainly with architectural, interior design, and furniture / décor clients. During these years, he continued to sharpen his understanding of the place of fine art in these spaces, and while painting continued to show up cyclically in his practice - mostly through works on paper - it wasn’t until the 2020 pandemic that Elvis decided to find a path back to his own art practice.
Flux Studies, 2020
Contour Paintings, 2020
In 2023, while styling an interior project, a catalytic moment took place in which Elvis was confronted with a large scale drip painting by Pat Steir. In an instant of great clarity, he realized he needed to build a new studio for himself and return to painting in a meaningful way. In 2025, he moved into a studio in the Greenpoint Terminal Building and began reconnecting with his practice.
War Skies, 2025
In 2026, after spending a year re-engaging with his painting, Elvis relocated his studio to a space twice as big in the Standard Motor Parts building, in Queens, allowing for an exploration into various scales and media. In what turned out to be a turning-point of a year, Elvis’s work was exhibited at the New York Design Center, and entered private collections through studio sales and commissions.
Canyon, 2026