Milton Ellis

At ninety one years of age, Milton Ellis became homeless after a freak tornado barreled through his central Florida residence during January of 2007. His personal possessions now filled two grocery bags while his large reverse-paintings on Mylar, which had been rolled-up and stowed away for thirty years, somehow remained unscathed by nature's wrath. Through these paintings, Mr. Ellis had expressed his vision of a pending apocalypse. He elaborated further on this theme in his manifesto, The Drama of Man in the Universe.  Mr. Ellis' dreams of being a noted artist faded over decades spent at a variety of jobs. His time as a screen printer may account for his use of bold colors and shapes while other forces undoubtedly contributed to his fatalistic outlook and imagery. Although he stopped painting before his prime, he did create some 50 mural-sized works after he retired.