Chloe Ellis is happy to announce the opening of her first solo exhibition, taking place in  the project space of her studio based in Rotherhithe. The show personally curated by  Chloe, will be an honest and intimate showcase for her first ever exhibition and what a  perfect setting, being not far from where she works; to create beautifully large scale  paintings depicting colourful and expressive figurative scenes of a dreamlike world. A  world in which she lives, a world that orbits around memories of emotional significance  from her life. She finds beauty in both the mundane everyday and experiences that  evoke emotions of joy, love and annoyance. Her work is ‘therapeutic’ for her and  autobiographical, she expresses that both the fear of forgetting these precious  memories and a desire to preserve what only exists in her mind is what fuels her to  latch onto these specific moments.

Ironically, she believes in detachment. Having been raised by a Buddhist mother, she  believes in the philosophy of detachment from material worldly things, in order to gain  happiness and or enlightenment. Why?

“The root of suffering is attachment.” Buddha.

Nothing is permanent, not even the physical. So by manifesting memory into the  physical, Chloe is not actually attaching onto them. She is saying goodbye. In order to  lead a life filled with happiness.

‘Farewell Temple Street’ is a show in dedication to her PoPo (Grandmother, Wèi Shì  Lín) who passed in July this year. Wèi Shì Lín was a beautiful and caring woman. She  spent her life alongside her husband, selling incense, taoist praying items and paper  offerings in a humble shop with world unesco heritage site status, in Malacca, Malaysia.  Chloe says that her PoPo taught her about how to communicate without using verbal  language and connect to someone on a spiritual level. Which is why she found it  profoundly important to manifest a body of physical work, with the intent of saying a  final goodbye.

Recently, Chloe has been awarded the Newman Young Artist Scholarship and is  currently enrolled in The Essential School of Painting. An alternative art school which nurtures a more intimate teaching approach, where she is mentored by distinguished  artists such as David Mach, Alison Harper and Sam Ainsley. This show marks a key  period of her early career and is also an exciting opportunity to see early works of an  artist whose future potential for growth is incredible.

We look forward to seeing you there.