Elliot Cowan's Solo Exhibition
Freedom Mentional

Elliot Cowan is an award-winning animator, writer, artist, and educator. He was born in Melbourne, Australia where he attended the Independent College of Art and Design and followed that up with a further post-grad year at the Victorian College of the Arts. His drawings, prints, sculptures, and paintings have been shown in Melbourne, Hobart, Launceston, Los Angeles, Chatanooga, Chicago, and New York.

He spent nearly 11 years in Tasmania writing, directing, and editing television commercials. In 2006 he left for London where he worked for Uli Meyer Animation, working as a story artist and gag man on the feature film Monstermania! He conceived the characters Boxhead and Roundhead who appeared in several award-winning short films as well as an animated feature currently on the festival circuit. In 2007 he moved to New York where he paints and draws, makes sculptures out of foam core and cardboard, and teaches animation. He has completed animation, storyboarding, writing and story consultation for Sesame Workshop, Elizabeth Arden, Nathan Love, PBS, Ace and Son Moving Picture Company, The Logo Network, Uli Meyer Animation. In 2016 Elliot spent a week working with visual artist Wayne White on Wayne’s big history and art project, Wayne-O-Rama.

Currently, he works with Oscar-nominated Irish studio Cartoon Saloon and teaches Queens College, Mercy College, and New York Institute of Technology.

Crossing freely between fine art, design, and moving image, Elliot creates unique and whimsical characters using various mediums such as cardboard, acrylic, and clay. He makes his characters versatile and alive on different platforms — animation, photograph, print, and sculpture.

In this exhibition ‘Freedom Mentional’, Elliot presents a series of paintings and a new collection of sculptures using polymer and epoxy clay, incorporating animation influences, cowboys, barnyard animals, gods, and goddesses.


"The journey is more important than the destination. Chasing the idea across the map to see where it ends up. Looking for your own detours and short cuts. The best places to sit a while and take in the view. A place to drink from a stream"

- Elliot Cowan, 2022

To learn more about artist Elliot Cowan, please visit www.elliotelliotelliot.com.

This project was in part of the inaugural presentation of Queens Rising 2022, a borough-wide multi-disciplinary arts celebration founded to highlight the borough’s culture and creative diversity.


  • Past Exhibition
  • Exhibited from May 28 through June 19, 2022 at the Garage Art Center.
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