Eli Thorne (b.1986) was born in Harrogate, England, and raised in the mountains of Santa Cruz, California. He received his BFA from the University of California, Berkeley, and his MFA from Mills College. As a trans painter and sculptor, his art practice aims to reconcile and negotiate his own sense of and relationship to manhood. His work has been shown in solo and group shows in The Bay Area at Mills College Art Museum, San Francisco State University, Southern Exposure, Et Al Gallery, Root Division, Gallery 16, Anglim Trimble Gallery, and Royan Nonesuch Gallery. He has given talks at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and UC Berkeley and was a featured artist in the KQED Artist series Redefining Pride. Since moving to the Hudson Valley, Eli has been chosen to be part of the White Collums Artist Registry in NYC, exhibited at the Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art, Utopia Gallery, and nominated for the Rema Hort and Mann Foundations Emerging Artist Grant. Eli currently lives and maintains his art practice in the Hudson Valley of New York.

Eli Thorne’s art practice transcends boundaries, inviting viewers into an abstracted realm where landscapes become a canvas for exploring his trans identity. Nature serves as both a sanctuary and muse, and through his paintings and sculptures, Thorne captures the healing essence of his time spent outdoors, holding emotions that stem from his journey as a trans person. Bold, and vibrant, and intuitively created, his art holds the coexistence of contradictory emotional truths, sharing with the viewer his fears, hopes, joys, and pain. Within these rich and vibrant worlds, one encounters fish out of water, tombstones, celestial bodies, and unknown multi gendered plant matter, each symbolizing profound aspects of his trans experience. 

Rooted in his blue-collar upbringing in the Santa Cruz mountains, now living and working in The Hudson Valley, Thorne draws inspiration from these two places, rustic charm, domesticity, folk art, antiques, and working-class masculinity, which he reinterprets through a contemporary lens. Guided by intuition rather than logic, his paintings and sculptures are imbued with a sense of fluidity and spontaneity, mirroring the ever-evolving nature of identity. Cobbling together contrasting shapes and objects Thorne creates an overall picture when seen as a whole represents a body, a chosen identity. 

As a trans man, Thorne’s works are a tribute to the transformative process itself, rejecting the notion of a final destination and embracing the idea that perhaps home lies in the journey of becoming. Eli Thorne’s work is a mesmerizing exploration of the multifaceted layers of identity, a testament to the enduring quest of self discovery and acceptance. For Thorne, home isn't merely a destination but rather a state of being, a sanctuary found within the boundless expanse of the creative process.