It’s not common to see graffiti in art galleries but Joe Ellis has found a way to make that his job.
Ellis, who runs Joe Ellis Art, works with graffiti writers from Minneapolis who have developed their art practices over the last 20 to 30 years. Joe Ellis Art is an advisory and brokerage business with a speciality in graffiti and post-graffiti (work not produced on the street) “as a lineage within contemporary art.”
“We’re looking at graffiti like an origin story for an artistic driver, “ Ellis said during an interview at Southside Preservation Society (2619 28th Ave. S.).
Southside Preservation Society featured Ellis’ curated show of former Minneapolis graffiti writer EWOK’s work, “Zigged When I Should Have Zagged” in August 2026. All but one piece has been sold.
EWOK, also known as George R. Thompson IV, is a well-known graffiti writer in the Twin Cities with his work commonly found along “the tracks,” now known as the Midtown Greenway. More recently EWOK worked with the LynLake Street Art Series, including graffiti writing on Cub Foods in 2024, which is still visible today.
Graffiti writing inspired Ellis’ journey since he was a kid, finding EWOK’s work along the tracks. For those involved in graffiti writing, EWOK is an inspiration for many local artists.
Local artist HOTTEA, known for his guerilla public yarn art, said his art practice is based on what EWOK was doing in the 1990s. HOTTEA’s work is also represented by Ellis.
Ellis grew up in South Minneapolis with a vibrant graffiti culture and currently lives in Uptown. His interest in graffiti writing morphed into studying painting at the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2002 where he stayed and worked in art galleries until 2016.
“It wasn’t like I aimed to be interested in graffiti, because it happened accidentally,” Ellis said. It was the first language he truly understood.
“It became a driving force in my life.”
Ellis’ curation of graffiti has found its way to North Dakota where his “Re-arming Language” show with the North Dakota Museum of Art will be traveling through rural towns for the next two years thanks to a Rural Arts Initiative grant.
“Whatever it was about (graffiti) permeated my consciousness enough for me to become obsessed, so I’m hoping that like whatever I’m doing will create that same circumstance for somebody that’s 10 or 11,” Ellis said.
Southside Preservation Society is also the home of Burlesque of North America, a screenprinting and graphic art studio. Owners Mike Davis and Wes Winship are responsible for screen printing the ubiquitous “ICE OUT” posters this winter that mimic the City of Minneapolis snow emergency parking signs.
