Ellen Altfest photographed by Vincent Dilio in her New York studio

Inside the mind of Ellen Altfest

Exploring the creative processes of artists featured in Vitamin P2

__ Who are you?__

I'm a painter from New York City.

What’s on your mind right now?

I'm thinking about my show, The Bent Leg which just opened in London, what my next work will be and about finding a new studio since my studio building has been sold. Right now I'm in Belgium looking at the Flemish Primitives.

How do you get this stuff out?

It's a lengthy process. I have an idea, then look for a model who physically fits the painting I have in mind. After I find someone, I spend a week or so working out the composition through preparatory drawing until it feels right and is correct. Then I order the canvas and transfer the drawing onto it.

Ellen Altfest, Torso (2011)

How does it fit together?

Each painting presents its own specific challenge. There is a lot of measuring and colour mixing. There are often mistakes along the way; it's not a straight path. I work until the painting becomes the thing in front of me, or feels complete in itself. This usually takes between four and 15 months.

What brought you to this point?

I wanted to make paintings of men for a long time before I did. I felt there was both something I wanted to say about men and something I had to learn. But I had to do it in my own way and that was something that evolved over time. Over the years the work has become more focused, detailed and smaller. This is in part because the paintings are one-to-one scale and the parts of the body are small. I began using tiny brushes in order to paint hair and pores, and through this the level of detail has become condensed.

Ellen Altfest, Reclining Nude (2007)

Can you control it?

The work can be a struggle to impose control over something chaotic. I try to keep the subject still and unchanged through the months long process. But plants grow and models' plans change and the job is physically demanding. I have found that there is often a point in a painting, about midway through, that the model threatens to quit. I work entirely from observation and I always fear this moment, which could result in the painting being left unfinished. I also make most of my work with natural light so the weather plays a big role in whether I can work on a painting on a given day. In the last year, watercolours have become my back-up plan for rainy days. However, it's the working from life, responding to an actual thing or person, the quality of daylight and all that visual information, that stimulates me as an artist.

__ What's next?__

I am thinking a lot about how to make the male figure present but less central in the paintings. I would like to move the men more towards the background, where they can exist as a texture or accent. This way they become one element of the work, part of a larger vocabulary of form.

Ellen Altfest, <em>Sleeping Man</em> (2007)

Ellen Altfest, Sleeping Man (2007)

Get inside the mind of more artists from Vitamin P2 here:

Inside the mind of Glenn Sorensen
Inside the mind of Serban Savu
Inside the mind of Xylor Jane
Inside the mind of Antonio Ballester Moreno
Inside the mind of Milena Dragicevic
Inside the mind of Lesley Vance
Inside the mind of Li Shurui

Vitamin P2: New Perspectives in PaintingPhaidon Editors

A dynamic overview of the best new contemporary painting from around the world.

The first volume of Vitamin P, published in 2002, inaugurated a vibrant period for painting. Since its publication, a whole new generation of painters has emerged, some inspired by the artists who appeared in that book, others taking cues from new sources. Vitamin P2 introduces this new wave of painters to the world.

The vast medium of painting continues to be a central pillar of artistic practice, and Vitamin P2 presents the outstanding artists who are currently engaging with and pushing the boundaries of the medium. Over 80 international critics, artists and curators have nominated the 115 artists who have made a fresh, unique or innovative contribution to recent painting. All of the artists in Vitamin P2 have recently emerged onto the international scene, and none appeared in the first Vitamin P.

An introduction by Barry Schwabsky, who also wrote the introduction for Vitamin P, provides a broad overview of recent developments in the medium while also looking towards its future.

Specifications:

Format: Paperback
Size: 290 × 250 mm (11 3/8 × 9 7/8 in)
Pages: 352 pp
Illustrations: 500 illustrations
ISBN: 9780714869421

Barry Schwabsky is a London-based writer. Currently International Reviews Editor at Artforum and Art Critic at The Nation, he has contributed to numerous art publications, including Phaidon's Jessica Stockholder (1995) and Vitamin P (2002), and is the author of The Widening Circle: The Consequences of Modernism in Contemporary Art (1997), as well as several volumes of poetry. He has taught at Yale, New York University and Goldsmiths, among other institutions.

"Vitamin P2 [...] is a colossal overview of 115 painters from 30 countries... Refreshing."—Aesthetica

"Leading critics, curators, and academics profile the latest contemporary painters making a splash in an up-to-the-minute overview."—C Magazine

"Compiled with the nominations of curators, critics, and art historians, the book is a must-read for any art lover."—ELLE.com