Although Ellie no longer wishes to work to a formula or to repeat similar processes again and again, she has a list of rules about what she believes art should be and what it should aim to achieve.
Ellie believes that:
- The main function of art is to enable the audience to view, consider or think about an element of the world in a new way, and thereby to alter their perception of this element of their life in the future (if only very slightly).
- An artwork may take any form and use any media that the artist finds most effective for conveying their ideas. The most interesting artists make such a variety of work that they are not easily defined by any one medium, but rather by the breadth of the ideas that they have had.
- It is not enough for an artwork simply to look good. An artwork may be visually striking, but it must offer plenty of content for the audience to unravel beneath its surface. Formal experiments in colour, space and shape are not acceptable as they do not always consider the politics of their surroundings.
- If an artwork features esoteric references to art history or philosophy, then this must also be combined with more universally accessible subject matter. In this respect it is important for the artwork to function on a number of levels and to leave the audience thinking about how these fit together.
- An artwork should acknowledge its social and political context. It should not be a self-contained autonomous entity and should at some point make reference to the time and climate in which it was produced and to the person/s who created it.
- An artwork should have a sense of humour. It should be knowing, sometimes self-mocking but ultimately not take itself too seriously. This is not to say that an artwork cannot deal with or be about serious issues, but an artwork must not get above its station in thinking it can change the world.
- An artwork must not forget that it is in essence a form of entertainment. It must consider its audience and attempt to engage, amuse and inspire as a priority.
