The Art of Pete Ellison
Pete Ellison is a multi-disciplinary artist, with a practice based in illustration and design. His bold and colorful graphic characters remix the cartoons, arcade games, and breakfast cereals of the 80’s and 90’s into something that’s both retro and timeless. With frequent nods to underground subcultures, including bear culture, Pete’s art is a playful celebration of pop culture visual excess and queer joy. Get to know more about him below.
BWM: Tell us a bit about your background, where you’re from, how you started creating art?
Pete Ellison (PE): My name’s Pete Ellison (he/him). I’m a gay, working class, American-Canadian artist & illustrator. I’m originally from Portland, Oregon but now based in Toronto, Ontario. In my 20’s I largely worked in music, producing and DJ-ing at raves and gay bar events. I was doing a lot of design work and illustration in conjunction with that – things like album art, event flyers, merchandise design etc. I was heavily involved in the anime and comic convention scenes, both as a DJ and selling merch. About 10 years ago I started feeling serious burnout with music. I decided to pivot and expand the visual part of what I was doing into my full-time career instead. I learned how to screen print and was designing and printing a lot of t-shirts. I continue to produce and hand screen print new t-shirt designs today, which is one of the biggest ways my work is shared to new people.
BWM: What is it about bears that makes you want to incorporate them into your art?
PE: I think back to when I was a kid in the 80’s, I was drawn to anything soft, round, cute and brightly colored. I really resonated with stuff like Care Bears, and I remember being bullied a lot and picked on because I liked things that were considered ‘for girls’. I think that’s a pretty universal queer experience when you’re young; we just like the things we like, but sometimes adults or other kids take notice and are the ones to point out that something’s “off” to them. As an adult I’m pretty much the same, aesthetically I gravitate toward a lot of the same stuff. My bear buddy Marty and I frequently send each other pics of cute graphic art we find online, often bear themed.
I’m also fascinated with the way some queer subcultures will use animal avatars as a way to identify and create community. Like there’s the gay bear community, pup play, furries, some people describe themselves as wolves or pigs or whatever. They all kind of use the animal idea in a different way, but there is a similarity to it all. I just see it as a playful way people express themselves that is uniquely queer, and I find a lot of joy in that. It’s all very silly and should not be taken too seriously.
For me, drawing bears kind of became a symbol for the freedom to just be yourself and like what you like, whatever that is, on your own terms.
BWM: What initially drew you into the bear community? And what keeps you there?
PE: I think “bear” describes the kind of guy I have always liked: fuzzy and huggable. What keeps me there is that we have the best snacks, and I am too lazy to get up from the cuddle puddle.
BWM: Are you professionally trained or self-taught? Tell us about that.
PE: A mix of both. I went to school for digital multimedia design. When I finished school, I was so sick of sitting in front of a computer all the time, so I took a private lesson in screen printing after seeing a sign on a telephone pole; that instructor wound up mentoring me one on one and let me use his studio, and I was hooked. Learning to screen print made me a better illustrator and designer. Everything else after that has been self-taught. I really like mixing ideas from commercial and fine art, combining digital and analog processes in various different ways. I’m comfortably forging my own path as an artist. I still approach every project like a “designer”. Ultimately, I just want to make all kinds of things that are cool, eye catching and interesting – and make them as accessible and approachable as I can.
BWM: Who or what are some of your artistic inspirations?
PE: Advertising & product packaging, 80’s cartoons, obscure retro video games, anything where cute characters have appeared I meticulously catalog for reference and it has all inspired my style.
As far as people go my biggest hero and inspiration is Todd Oldham, for his approach to creating and working. I’ve read and listened to so many interviews with him and I’ve learned so much. He said never to swim upstream, that the unpaved roads are actually easier to walk on, and he’s right. He has an interesting way of seeing things, and a tendency to sort of ‘flatten’ and equalize everything. He’s built such a multi-dimensional career where he moves between mediums and projects but it’s still unmistakably him, because his creative approach and voice is so strong, and I really admire that.
BWM: Where can we see/ purchase your work? Social media profiles? Websites?
PE: You can see what I’m working on at www.peteellison.com, and I would be thrilled if you signed up for my newsletter there. You can find me on Instagram @peteellisonstudio too.
BWM: What big projects are you working on? What is coming next?
PE: My partner Bigpaws and I just organized a queer illustration/art popup called ART♡THROB with other local artists at Black Eagle in Toronto, and it was a roaring success. I hope we’ll get to turn it into a regular event. Aside from that I’m designing new merchandise, and painting in my studio.
