Birthday Selfie, When Life Gives You Lemons...

In Collections: Creativity in the Time of COVID-19

Copyright Status: In Copyright

Date: 2019/2022

Artists: Ellyn, Dana

Subjects: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- , in art

Material Type: Paintings (visual works)

Language: English

Extent: 4 paintings

Genre Note: Acrylic and oil on canvas

Exhibit Label: As a full-time painter living and working in downtown Washington DC, I have always painted current events and reacted to the world around me. As soon as the COVID-19 pandemic became front page news in 2020, I began creating virus-themed work from my downtown studio. I created close to 100 unique paintings that documented the constantly mutating "facts" surrounding this once in a lifetime global phenomenon. I created this body of work to express my feelings throughout the entire first two years of the pandemic. I created the first work in the series just days after the first glimmer of news about a possible 'public health' warning was issued, before it was even declared a pandemic. I have always been one to dive deep to find out all the information that the news glosses over or leaves out completely, so I painted each of the works as reactions to the ever-morphing news cycles, and constantly changing public health recommendations. --Label design by exhibit curator Nancy DeJoy. Labels written by Ben Lash and his team in consultation with artist statements.

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Page Info

1 of 4: Birthday Selfie

An acrylic and oil painting on canvas. The painting depicts a home-like setting. A person with tan skin, long brown hair, a red shirt, white shorts, and white bunny-shaped slippers sits to the right on a wooden stool. They are posed with a green bottle of wine, and a pink striped party hat sits on their head. They are taking a selfie with a blue phone in their left hand. On the pale yellow wall behind them is a black and white banner that reads "happy birthday" in capital letters. Next to them is another stool and a small countertop, where a half-eaten cake with chocolate frosting rests on a blue plate. To the left side of the piece is a kitchen space in disarray, white cabinets are open, pots rest on a green stove, and dishes overflow in the sink.

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Extent: 1 painting

Permalink: https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5028sf1g

2 of 4: When Life Gives You Lemons

An acrylic and oil painting on canvas. The painting depicts a person with tan skin and wavy blonde hair wearing a white jewel headband, a loose white scarf, blue shawl, and red long-sleeved shirt. Their expression is somber, and their green eyes look upwards. They are holding a crying baby with sparse blonde hair. In the baby's left hand is a white and red COVID cell and in their right is a vaccination syringe with the needle pointed upwards. Below the baby's nose is a blue COVID mask. Printed on their blue long-sleeve shirt is a black and white sheep. Two gold circles surround the person and child while the rest of the background is black.

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Language: No linguistic content

Extent: 1 painting

Permalink: https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5j67cx7n

3 of 4: When Life Gives You Lemons. Part 01

An acrylic and oil painting on canvas. In the center of the piece, an older person sits on a brown chair dressed in a tall, pointed yellow crown and fastened yellow collar over a white cape and white and green robes with a yellow belt. Grasped in their left hand is an oversized vaccination syringe, the needle pointing upward, and in their right hand is a white and red COVID cell. Behind them are blue pleated curtains. In the bottom left corner is the signature "d.ellyn" and beneath that the numbers "9.21" in thin black strokes.

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Language: No linguistic content

Extent: 1 painting

Permalink: https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5mw2cg21

4 of 4: When Life Gives You Lemons. Part 02

An acrylic and oil painting on canvas. A person with brown skin and long, black hair sits on an orange armchair, wearing a long-sleeved, red dress, green pants, and a yellow blanket draped over their middle and down the side of the chair. Their mouth is opened as if they are laughing. In each of their hands is a yellow drink in a short glass, the drink in their left hand garnished with a lemon and the drink in their right garnished with a COVID-19 cell, skewered by the swab of a COVID test. On the footrest in front of them is a small, opened, blue COVID-19 testing box. To their left side is a table; a blue bowl filled with lemons, a blue bowl filled with COVID cells, and a glass container filled with yellow liquid are placed on top. In front of the bowls is a small piece of the COVID test kit, similar to the piece that shows if the test is positive or negative.

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Language: No linguistic content

Extent: 1 painting

Permalink: https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5qn62c8w