Jason Ellis, 4. 'Smooth Handfish – Sympterichthys unipennis † 2020'. 2024. Valentia slate, 40 x 40 x 2.5cm. Photo Ros Kavanagh.
Monkey Gone to Heaven is an exhibition of new carvings by Jason Ellis, one of Ireland’s foremost sculptors in stone. Monkey Gone to Heaven memorialises extinct animals, the most famous of which, the Dodo, has entered the lexicon to hyperbolise death. Ellis places them in slate frames, small windows on an intransmutable past which may serve as markers to a still-undecided future. The exhibition runs from Friday 8 November to Friday 6 December.
Born in Cornwall in 1965, Jason Ellis studied sculpture at the University of Chichester under Alan Saunders, a former student of Anthony Caro. Following his degree he spent 20 years as a sculpture conservator, firstly in London then in Ireland, having moved to Dublin in 1994. Stone became his master over the years and he began carving his own work, finally leaving conservation in in 2006 order to focus on his practice full time. Today, his sculptures feature in numerous public, private and corporate collections. Several commissions also exist in the public realm. Ellis joined the Oliver Sears Gallery in 2011. He lives and works in Dublin.
Opening Night: Friday 8 November, 6pm