Ellen Dreibelbis

It is the inner world that inspires me, the archetypal, the psychological, the contemplative, the spiritual. My work is timeless rather than trendy, beautiful things wrested sometimes painfully, from the depths of my experience as a human being and an artist.

I’m very attracted to strong inner emotion. I love to watch people on the street, in cafes, or subways. Sometimes, as I’m watching, a face will become aflame with an intense personal feeling, in response to some inner thought, illuminating the anonymous environment like a beacon. I love the contrast between the unique, complex...

It is the inner world that inspires me, the archetypal, the psychological, the contemplative, the spiritual. My work is timeless rather than trendy, beautiful things wrested sometimes painfully, from the depths of my experience as a human being and an artist.

I’m very attracted to strong inner emotion. I love to watch people on the street, in cafes, or subways. Sometimes, as I’m watching, a face will become aflame with an intense personal feeling, in response to some inner thought, illuminating the anonymous environment like a beacon. I love the contrast between the unique, complex human being, and the drab, functional environment.

I’m always on the lookout for a face, and expression, or a gesture which reaches beyond the mundane and somehow seems to embody some universal human experience or truth, in all its poignance and beauty. It is when I can evoke this kind of experience in my painting, that I feel closest to being satisfied as an artist.