Jerry Saltz once described painting as "…one of the greatest visionary tools ever invented, and among the most effective ways to alter reality, see it better, or invent a new one."* Altfest's work undoubtedly adheres to this, by not merely representing what is before her in the studio, be it a domestic plant, tumbleweed, log or model. Instead, Altfest, who always paints from life rather than reproduction, consumes herself in an intense analysis and personal engagement with the subject, that pushes her vision beyond the real. ??

For Altfest's second New York exhibition in 2005, the writer and artist David Humphrey elaborates on her practice:?"Ellen Altfest asks us to slow down, to crawl, to feel our way across the variegated surfaces ...