(PARAMUS, NJ) -- Gallery Bergen, the visual arts presentation space of Bergen Community College, presents a new exhibition by one of its extraordinary faculty members, illustrator and motion graphics creative Graham Elliott. "OMG" will feature two tents erected inside the gallery to house secular shrines to lost keys, sketchbooks, projections, "wallbooks," installations, and looped motion graphics and videos. Some of the pieces include collaborations with Graham's former and current BCC students. The exhibit is on display from February 26 - April 10, 2026.
“What if a Barbie doll factory and a Lower East Side botánica had a baby, and then brought it to Bourbon Street for a birthday party? OMG! embraces play, humor, and improvisation as serious artistic strategies, inviting viewers into a space where curiosity, obsession, and sustained looking are treated with care and rigor. Graham Elliott’s work is disarmingly playful, yet purposeful—using accumulation, motion, and wit as engines for reflection rather than distraction. The exhibition reveals how whimsy is not the opposite of depth, but one of its most precise and enduring tools.” - Tim Blunk, Director/Curator, Gallery Bergen.
About this new show, Elliott says, "My work meets at the intersection of many art forms. Illustration, Graphic Design, Advertising, Animation, Sculpture, Collage, Film and Storytelling. All feeding off each other. As if all the animals in a zoo were released and were hanging out, partying.
"I think the 'Process' can be more interesting than the finished product. Like looking backstage at an opera. Not particularly answering things but attempting to inspire the viewer to ask questions. I am utterly inspired by the energy and creativity of my students at BCC."
After successfully completing pilot training with the RAF, Graham Elliott decided his career lay in art rather than in the air. He graduated with an Illustration Masters from the Royal College of Art and went on to design some of the first motion graphics for MTV. Graham has illustrated for many publications, notably The New York Times and The Sunday Times magazine. Designing record sleeves for rock band Living Colour, which went platinum, he also directed their Glamour Boys music video and produced the stage design for the tour with the Rolling Stones. He has worked as a creative director at Saatchi and Saatchi, directed commercials for Coca-Cola and music videos and other projects in twenty plus countries. Graham has also worked for Nickelodeon, creating motion graphics for PewWee's Playhouse and other shows. Teaching motion graphics at the School of Visual Arts, New York for the last 20 years, Elliott was also keynote speaker at the first International Motion Festival Cyprus’ in spring 2012. Graham joined the Bergen Community College faculty as an adjunct professor in 2023 where he currently teaches Illustration and Photoshop.
Elliott’s dedication and never-ending curiosity have fueled a career spanning multiple creative endeavors: animation, illustration, photography, writing, multimedia, and film. In 2011, he created New York in Motion, a documentary about the motion graphics industry in New York. Inspired by his experiences creating New York in Motion, he’s now working on World in Motion, a new documentary film series that examines how environment and cultural context strongly influence designers and their work in different countries around the world.
Elliott's illustrations have been published in the New York Times and his sketch books are included in Sketchbooks of the World’s Great Graphic Designers.
An Opening Reception for the artist is scheduled for Thursday, February 26, 2026 at 6:00pm in Gallery Bergen on the third floor of West Hall, Main Campus in Paramus.
Special musical guests include:
7:00pm: Carl Aude, one of the foremost proponents of the flute in the world today, will be performing Mei by Kazuo Fukushima for unaccompanied flute.
8:00pm: The Modesto Kid, will be playing his own take on traditional music, jazz, folk, show tunes and some originals, on cello.
Food will be provided by the student chefs of the BCC Culinary Arts Department.
Related programming in April: Film Showing of “New York in Motion” by Graham Elliott and Roswitha Rodrigues: Thursday, April 2, 2026 at 7:00pm. Pitkin Education Center, A-104
Gallery Bergen is located at Bergen Community College in Paramus, NJ, just 10 miles from NYC. The gallery regularly presents major contemporary artists in all media.
