Buck Ellison
Drawing on the vocabulary of stock photography, Buck Ellison produces meticulously detailed images that examine white American wealth. On the surface his large-format images appear to mildly reproduce the habits and tastes of affluent families, WASP dynasties, or Ivy League students. Lurking beneath this, however, is a deep inquiry into how whiteness and privilege are sustained and broadcast. With references to seventeenth-century Dutch family portraits, Ellison plants codes in his compositions, telling details that act as clues. These tableaux showcase the mechanisms that quietly, even politely, obscure inequality in the United States.
For a series of photographs investigating the ultraconservative, evangelical DeVos family, Ellison paid actors to reenact everyday moments that we would not otherwise be able to see. These works are coupled with a pair of carefully composed and inherently narrative “still lifes.” Additionally, a video work by Ellison is on view in the museum lobby, on the monitors usually reserved for signage. Using a litany of tropes from pharmaceutical and bank advertisements, the artist presents a hollow, mechanized version of white masculinity and fatherhood.
In Made in L.A. 2020: a version, the artist’s work is present in two institutions, across Los Angeles. See Buck Ellison's work on view at The Huntington.
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![A family portrait of four preteens, arranged in a living room]()
Buck Ellison, The Prince Children, Holland, Michigan, 1975, 2019Archival pigment print. 60 1/4 × 79 1/2 in. (153 × 202 cm). Courtesy of the artist, Balice Hertling, Paris, and The Sunday Painter, London -
Buck Ellison, Dick and Betsy, The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, Texas, 1984, 2019Archival pigment print. 46 7/16 x 34 1/4 in. (119 × 87 cm). Courtesy of the artist, Balice Hertling, Paris and The Sunday Painter, London -
![Photo looking down on a yellow surface with objects strewn on it. Several envelopes and cards with the words "PARTY" and nautical-themed graphics are strewn across the surface. At right is a book open to a page showing to images of European paintings with text below. Several coasters with Washington, D.C. monuments depicted are visible with two etched lowball cocktail glasses. At lower right are two red balls.]()
Buck Ellison, Who owns New York?, 2020Archival pigment print, 21 7/8 × 29 in. (55.6 × 73.7 cm). Courtesy of the artist, Balice Hertling, Paris, and The Sunday Painter, London -
![Photograph looking down on a pink surface with objects strewn. At top right is an open book showing an image of a European painting on right and text on left. Two blue-and-white plates sit on top the book in center of the image. At top a portion of another blue-and-white plate is visible. Paper that looks like opened mail and bills is on the left--an index card with "Big Hun!" hand written on it is atop this paper. A colored note flags sits on lower right.]()
Buck Ellison, Not a scholar like her sister, 2020Archival pigment print, 21 7/8 × 29 in. (55.6 × 73.7 cm). Courtesy of the artist, Balice Hertling, Paris, and The Sunday Painter, London -
![Photo looking down on a purple surface with objects strewn on top. At top left a book is open to a page with a European painting on the right and text on the left. Index cards, a folded receipt, and pink tissue paper are strewn around, and 2 sets of unburned candles, orange and green, are set on top the tissue paper at right.]()
Buck Ellison, New Canaan, 2020Archival pigment print, 21 7/8 × 32 in. (55.6 × 81.3 cm). Courtesy of the artist, Balice Hertling, Paris, and The Sunday Painter, London -
![Photograph looking down on a white surface, with several objects placed and sunlight shining from the upper left: at top-left are three etched wine glasses, in the center is a book opened to a page with a painting visible on the right and text on the left, on top of the book us a crumpled piece of paper and an orange belt or collar, looped in a circle, and under the book at the left edge a white powder is visible. In the lower right of the image are three shallots and a crumpled piece of paper.]()
Buck Ellison, Can I lick the crumbs from your table?, 2020Archival pigment print, 21 1/8 × 31 5/16 in. (53.6 × 79.5 cm). Courtesy of the artist, Balice Hertling, Paris, and The Sunday Painter, London -
Buck Ellison, Henry, Henry, Henry (detail), 2019. Installation view, Hammer Museum.Digital film in three part, running time: 58 seconds each. Courtesy of the artist, Balice Hertling, Paris, and The Sunday Painter, London. Installation view, Made in L.A. 2020: a version, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures.com. -
Buck Ellison, Henry, Henry, Henry (detail), 2019. Installation view, Hammer Museum.Digital film in three parts, running time: 58 seconds each. Courtesy of the artist, Balice Hertling, Paris, and The Sunday Painter, London. Installation view, Made in L.A. 2020: a version, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures.com. -
Buck Ellison, Henry, Henry, Henry (detail), 2019. Installation view, Hammer Museum.Digital film in three parts, running time: 58 seconds each. Courtesy of the artist, Balice Hertling, Paris, and The Sunday Painter, London. Installation view, Made in L.A. 2020: a version, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures.com. -
Buck Ellison, Dick and Betsy, The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, Texas, 1984, 2019. Installation view, Hammer MuseumInstallation view, Made in L.A. 2020: a version, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures.com. -
Buck Ellison, Dick and Betsy, The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, Texas, 1984 (foreground), 2019; Can I lick the crumbs from your table? (background, left), 2020. Installation view, Hammer Museum.Installation view, Made in L.A. 2020: a version, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures.com. -
Buck Ellison, Dick and Betsy, The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, Texas, 1984 (center), 2019; Can I lick the crumbs from your table? (background, left), 2020; New Canaan (right), 2020. Installation view, Hammer Museum.Installation view, Made in L.A. 2020: a version, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures.com. -
Buck Ellison (three works on walls in background). Hedi El Kholti, Untitled, 2015 (foreground). Installation view, Hammer MuseumInstallation view, Made in L.A. 2020: a version, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Photo: Joshua White / JWPictures.com.
Biography
Buck Ellison was born in 1987 in San Francisco. He received a BA in German literature from Columbia University, New York, in 2010, and an MFA from the Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, in 2014. Borrowing from the language of stock photography, Ellison produces meticulously detailed images that examine white American wealth. His large-format photographs portraying Ivy League students, WASP dynasties, and affluent homes are inspired by seventeenth-century Dutch paintings, specifically family portraits, that display an intricate set of coded signifiers and a particular attention to detail. His process involves thorough research into the lives of his subjects (some fictional, some real, such as the ultraconservative, Evangelical DeVos family, subjects of a recent series) so that he may plant clues (e.g., a lapel pin from a defense-contracting firm, a Dutch Reformed hymnal, a bruise from Chinese cupping therapy). Overall his tableaux showcase, in vivid detail, the mechanisms that quietly, even politely, obscure inequality in America. Ellison has exhibited his work at Balice Hertling, Paris (2019, 2017); Carl Kostyàl, Malmö, Sweden (2019); The Sunday Painter, London (2019); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2018); Index—The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm (2016); Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio (2016); and Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main (2014).
