In Stephen Ellis's paintings there is a balance between ordered geometric austerity and the flowing irregularity of the painter's hand.  Equally adept as a critic and a writer, Ellis has written extensively on contemporary art for European and American publications including Parkett, Tema Celeste, and Art in America. He has been an Associate and Contributing Editor of Art in America as well as editing for Artforum and Parkett.

Ellis has received grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Foundation for the Arts. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, and the Brooklyn Museum. His work is in the permanent collections of the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, the Brooklyn Museum, the Fogg Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and Fond Nationale Art Contemporaine (FNAC) in Paris among many others.

The many publications that have reviewed his work include Art in America, Artforum, ArtNews, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.