Ellen Cantor (1961–2013) was an American artist.^[1] Cantor was known for combining pornography, politics, pop culture and the handmade in her paintings, drawings, sculptures, videos, and films.^[2] Born in Detroit, Michigan to a Jewish family, Cantor completed her studies at Brandeis University in 1983 with a degree in painting. She went on to study at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1991.^[3][4]

Solo exhibitions and screenings

• Be My Baby, Delfina, London, 1999; XL Xavier LaBoulbenne, New York, 1998 and 1996; Feigen, Chicago, 1997; Cabinet, London, 1996; and Postmasters, New York, 1995.
• Video Drawing 1996-2001, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, 2000; Kunstbunker, Nuremberg, 2001.
• Ellen Cantor Cerith Wyn Evans, Kunsthalle Wien, 2002; Sketch, London, 2005; Prince Charles Cinema, London, 2005.
• Path of Sun – Road of Life, 1000000 mph, London, 2006
• Within a Budding Grove, Participant Inc, New York, 2008; White Cubicle, London, 2008; Abbt Projects, Zurich, 2007
• Subversive Cinema: Ellen Cantor, curated by Lux, Zoo art fair, London, 2009
• Serpentine Cinema: Film in Progress, Serpentine Gallery, curated by Nicola Lees/Victoria Brooks, London, 2009
• Séance de projection de films, La GAD, Gallerie Arnaud Deschin, Marseille, 2011
• The Dictator & the Maid, The Black Mariah, Cork, Ireland, curated by Dallas Seitz & The Black Mariah, 2014
• Ellen Cantor at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart [de] and Cinderella Syndrome at Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco curated by Jamie Stevens and Fatima Hellberg, 2015–16^[1][5]

Death and legacy

Cantor died on April 22, 2013, in her apartment in New York City after a year-long battle with lung cancer.^[6]