Shawn Ehlers
"Stop and Smell the Roses" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 30"x60"
"Whale Tail" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 30"x 60"
"I See U" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 30"x 60"
"Getting Some Air Time" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 30"x 60"
"Plentiful" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax "30x60"
Title: "Those Hips Don't Lie" Medium: Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax Size: 30"x 60"
"Surf Spectre" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic 30"x60"
"To Be Free Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 30"x60"
"HDR Surfer" Fine Art Photographer/Encaustic Wax "30"x60"
"Pink Montauk Surfer" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x72"
"Firecracker" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 30"x 60"
"Lily" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 30"x60"
"Pop of Life" Fine Art Photography/Enncaustic Wax 30"x60"
"Art of Zen" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"Waiting for Space" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"HDR Surfer" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"Mermaid's Request" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"Technicolor Surfer" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"Going My Way" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"Dirt Lot" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"Master of the Sea" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"Horten's Lighthouse" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 42"x42"
"Water/Sky" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"King Tut's Eye" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"The Chase" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"My Dreams" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 32"x32"
"Setting Sun" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 42"x42"
Title: "Over the Rainbow" Medium: Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax Size: 42"x42"
"Chase of the Parrot" Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax 18"x18"
Title: "Dance of the Dove" Medium: Fine Art Photography/Encaustic Wax Size: 18"x18"
Shawn Ehlers is a former Ford/Elite model who lived and worked in Milan, Paris and New York before getting behind the lens. Photographed by well-known photographers as Helmut Newton, Olivero Toscani and Albert Watson, her shift behind the camera was an easy transition. She gave models movement and posing directions familiar to her, helping launch successful commercial and fashion careers. Also working as a celebrity shooter for Wireimage and Getty Images, some of her roster includes: Lady Gaga, Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, President’s Bush and Clinton, Susan Sarandon, and Whoopie Goldberg. As a fine artist she won the prestigious gold award in 2015, Prix de la Photographie (PX3) for her series, “Women as Birds”. She combines the medium of Polaroid photography and digital infrared with the ancient art of encaustic wax.
SOLO SHOWS
2016 Architectural Digest Show Solo Booth, NYC, New York
2017 Architectural Digest Show Solo Booth, NYC, New York
2018 Black Swan Antiques Sag Harbor, New York
2019 The Other Art Fair Solo Booth NYC, New York
GROUP SHOWS
2019 William Ris Gallery, Jamesport, New York-”Forms and Figures”
2019 Arte Collective Gallery, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Bridgehampton, New York
2019 Market Art & Design Show, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Bridgehampton, New York
2019 Reveal Art Fair, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Saratoga Springs, New York
2019 Sotheby’s Art House, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Sag Harbor, New York
2019 Intercontinental Hotel, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Miami, Florida
2019 SOFA, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Chicago, Illinois
2019 Art Basel-Art Now, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Miami, Florida
2019 DCOTA Miami Design Center, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Miami, Florida
2020 Palm Beach Art Fair, Curated by Yubal Marquez Fleites, Miami, Florida
2020 One Art Space, Curated by John Mazlish, New York NY
2020 The Yard, New York, NY
2021 Invisible Dog Brooklyn, NY
2021 Chase Edwards Gallery Bridgehampton, NY
2021 Chase Edwards Gallery Delray Beach, FL
2022 Happy Hour Gallery Water Mill, NY
2023 SCOPE Miami Beach, FL
AWARDS
2015 Gold Winner PX3-Prix de la Photographie-Portraiture
“Look deep into nature, and then you will
understand everything better.” —Albert Einstein
Artist Statement
This series focuses on the reverence I have for nature and particularly water. Open water swimming has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I am passionate about swimming in all bodies of water: oceans, lakes and rivers. Water has a fluidity that is both healing and calming. It’s the ebb and flow, the gentle and tumultuous waves that gives the water a mesmerizing effect. My intention of combining the photographic medium with encaustic wax is to evoke the feeling I get from being at one with the water or experiencing it: floating, suspending, and supporting.
I’ve come back to my roots with photography, shooting exclusively with various Polaroid and infrared digital cameras. I find the film produces a magic image which scanned during the development of the photo is then printed using watercolor textured archival paper and ink. Typically there are several layers of encaustic wax that are brushed on and manipulated with a palette knife to get the surface I desire. The art of encaustic wax began in ancient Greece, initially applied to the hulls of ships with pigment and eventually made it’s way to both easel painting and sculpture.
There is a luminosity and dimensionality with the application of encaustic wax. The textured surfaces I create mimic the feeling of water and the image underneath. The translucent quality of the wax intensifies the feeling and beauty of the abstraction of nature.