Guest Curator

Ellary Eddy, Artist and Founder, Realize Magazine

As part of our ongoing Guest Curator series, Ellary Eddy, founder and editor of Realize Magazine and a Saatchi Art artist, has curated an exclusive art collection.

Artist and Editor

Ellary Eddy is the Founder/Editor of Realize Magazine – an online publication about lifestyle and culture for the ‘hip’ over 50 set. Her entire life has been spent in the arts, both as practitioner and entrepreneur. She has always juggled her artistic practice with the commercial; stints in advertising, public relations and sponsorship, film development and a gig as director of an arts foundation.

Never content in one mode of artistic enterprise, her trajectory has spanned a variety of fields and media: photography, painting, design, film and writing. Ellary has two earlier web projects in the wings, Pandelexium – a website devoted to gameplay in the English language, and PopAcademy – a site for surfing the world of academia. Her next project is a video version of Realize Magazine. Happily, she has found that each venture informs the next. The guiding element that propels her is an almost constant state of enthusiasm.

https://www.instagram.com/p/4Ca0jmtVFA/?taken-by=realizemag

What was the first piece of art you bought?

A piece of tramp art of baby Jesus, psychedelically decorated with the perforated edges of stamps.

How would you describe your taste in art? What are you most drawn to?

Any or all of the following: artisanship, strength of vision, complexity of meaning, impact, humor, and a deep sense of humanity.

What role does art play in your life?

It is an enormous pre-occupation. I am an artist, and a visually obsessed one, and feel that art should be reflected in every aspect of life.

https://www.instagram.com/p/je8jqYNVAT/?taken-by=realizemag

What do you collect?

Taxidermy, small reproductions of classical sculptures, mid-century Americana and kitsch, pop Japanese figurines and other objects that make me laugh.

How would you describe your personal style?

Eclectic in the extreme, yet very American.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, which would it be and why?

It would probably be one of my own paintings – most likely an underwater polar bear or maybe one of my Peter Rabbit in Extremis series.

Which artists would you most like to meet?

Pierre Huyghe, Chris Burden (alas), Anish Kapoor, Yoko Ono.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDr_U-XtVAc/?taken-by=realizemag

Which books are on your bedside table?

Robertson Davies: The Rebel Angels, Haruki Murakami: 1Q84, Simon Schama’s work on the French Revolution: Citizens, and The Golden Gate, a novel in verse by Vikram Seth.

What music are you currently listening to?

Lord Huron, Father John Misty, Oasis, LCD Soundsystem, Janelle Monae, the Zombies.

What was the last great exhibition you went to?

Pierre Huyghe at LACMA

Do you have a favorite museum or gallery?

LACMA

https://www.instagram.com/p/BB1Hy1dtVLY/?taken-by=realizemag

If you could give one piece of advice to young artists, what would it be?

Be authentic. Avoid attenuating the concepts of other artists. Make something that will have meaning beyond your own lifespan.

What would you like to do if you weren’t pursuing your current line of work?

Be a DJ or play the market.

What projects are you currently working on? Where can we next see your work?

Transforming my current enterprise, Realize Magazine, into a video series based around the lifestyles of mavericks and geniuses from the post-war baby boom. You can find news of this either at www.realizemagazine.com or from my Facebook, Twitter or Youtube posts.

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