Ellis King is a contemporary figurative artist whose work explores the emotional and psychological realities of womanhood. Through bold, expressive portraiture, she reflects on themes such as vulnerability, identity, domesticity, and quiet resistance. Her practice combines realism and abstraction to examine the tension between outward performance and internal truth—particularly the complex emotional labour carried by women in both public and private life.
Ellis paints women because she is a woman—and because women’s experiences remain underrepresented, misinterpreted, or reduced. Her subjects appear composed but conflicted, raw yet restrained. They are often caught in the act of holding themselves together—exhausted, contemplative, defiant—inviting the viewer to witness something deeper than the surface suggests.
Her artistic journey was reignited in 2019 after the traumatic premature birth of her son, when painting became both a form of therapy and a political act. Her work has since evolved into a visual language rooted in feminist inquiry, shaped by lived experience, and powered by a desire to create space for emotional honesty and shared understanding.
Technically, Ellis’s work incorporates layered marks, acidic and muted colour palettes, and interrupted forms to echo the contradictions within her subjects. Her paintings are not only personal—they are invitations to recognise what we often hide: burnout, shame, quiet rage, fragility, and strength.
In 2025, she was selected for Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year (Season 12) and named one of the Top 100 Emerging Artists to Watch by Arts to Hearts Project. Her work has been exhibited across the UK at venues including The Other Art Fair, Manchester Art Fair, and The Affordable Art Fair, and she is represented by Heath Kae, Clifton Fine Art, and Prince & Pilgrim. Ellis’s paintings are held in private collections in the UK, Europe, North America, and beyond.
Her work is unapologetically emotional, feminist, and honest—creating a space where women’s stories are no longer hidden, but seen, shared, and honoured.