Growing up in a family of classical musicians, I was surrounded by theatrical imagery and environments from a young age. These experiences shaped the kind of art I make, with a focus placed on form, movement and light, and although I have stage fright myself, I find I often make things that look like performers or props, as if vicariously living through them. Using primarily ink, charcoal and graphite, I like to give weight to different kinds of marks and forms, making for strange characters that walk the line between animate and inanimate.

Eliot Rattle is a San Francisco based visual artist working in graphite, ink and charcoal. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College with a focus in portraiture and film history, he attended San Francisco Art Institute, where his work expanded to incorporate more abstract aspects of drawing. Eliot Rattle has shown work in the Bay Area and abroad, including shows in Italy and London, recently completing artist residencies at the Journal Building and with Upper Market Gallery in San Francisco.