Elyse Katz

Elyse Katz is a self-taught American artist residing in Newport Beach, California. Her works are abstractions inspired by the visceral recollection of her personal experiences. As such, she calls her paintings “landscapes of my inner world.” Fittingly, physical landscapes and architectural rhythm also fuel her creativity: urban and rural vistas as viewed from the air, for example, textures and colors of old weathered surfaces and the pattern of cobblestone, to name a few.

Katz begins each painting without expectation of outcome, with mark-making and play, layers of acrylic paint and oil pastels and found materials - vintage text and typography - laid down in collage, scraped, then painted over until a story “speaks.” Her canvases and panels express a juxtaposition of contrasts, like defined-versus-blurred edges or bold, opaque color fields abutting transparent color washes. 

Her foray into fine art occurred relatively late in life on the heels of personal tragedy. But in the two decades since she first picked up a brush, Katz has committed herself to her practice by studying with renowned artists such as Nicholas Wilton, Pamela Caughey, and Krista Harris. She has gained recognition through representation with Kennedy Contemporary and by working with interior designers who have placed her works in private collections around the world.