Ellen Berkenblit (American, b.1958) is an influential Contemporary painter, known for her colorful, gestural paintings of women and animals. Often working in large-scale and in oil paint, a recurring motif in Berkenblit’s work is a magical female protagonist, frequently depicted as a cartoonish women in profile, with long lashes, rosy cheeks, and wild hair. Berkenblit had her first solo exhibition in 1984, and has since gone on to have solo shows at Anton Kern Gallery in New York, Michael Benevento in Los Angeles, TBA Gallery in Chicago, Suzanne Hilberry Gallery in Detroit, and Charim Klocker Gallery in Vienna, among others.

Born in Perterson, NJ, Berkenblit went on to receive her BFA from Cooper Union in 1980. Her work can be found in the public collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, the Cincinnati Art Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. She is also the recipient a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship.