Ella Yang, a native New Yorker and Korean-American, is a mostly self-taught representational oil painter based in Brooklyn, New York. After a long hiatus from art making, Ella realized her dream of studying art in Italy during the summer of 2001. There she discovered “plein air” landscape painting and renewed her interest in drawing from the figure. In Spring 2003 she made a full-time commitment to a career in artwork.

As an outdoor enthusiast, oil painting from nature has a special allure for her. With a studio in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, she looks for subjects in her backyard, whether it is a gritty industrial street next to the Gowanus Canal or a view from a sidewalk in Carroll Gardens with its mom-and-pop shops. Are the colors and light juicy, begging to be captured in paint? Is there a unique building or landmark that creates a focal point? She usually works on site with a very direct method of painting, making close observations and quick decisions about what to emphasize, what to leave out, and use a limited palette. During inclement weather she works from photographs, using her memories of outdoor experiences. Her paintings capture the spirit of a place. Not being judgmental, in fact, is an important part of the process.

Currently, Ella belongs to the 440 Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, where she exhibits regularly, and also sells directly from her studio near the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Ella has shown her work regularly in solo and group exhibitions at galleries in New York City and its environs. Her paintings are in private collections in the USA, as well as in Hong Kong, Italy, France, and Austria. In the summer of 2006, she spent a month at the internationally recognized artist residency program, the Vermont Studio Center. She is honored to be included in book “100 New York Painters,” by C.M. Dantzic, which was published by Schiffer Books in 2006.

Ella is a graduate of Yale College, B.A. Architecture, and Columbia University, MBA. When not painting, she plays not-too-bad tennis, studies Italian and goes skiing with her husband, and enjoys cooking and eating well. She has an impressive two-fingered whistle that will attract just about every available yellow taxi.