E.L.K, also known as Luke Cornish, is an Australian artist who creates powerful images using handmade stencils. Rising rapidly in the contemporary art scene, he became the first to be nominated for the Archibald Prize with a stencil portrait. ​Using up to 85 layers of carefully hand-cut acetate, he sprays layer upon layer of aerosol paint until his images bear a striking photographic resemblance: this is a new form of hyper-realism that is unlike what has been seen before. He uses the tools of a street artist to create decadent, detailed works that envelop the viewer. His subjects all seem to share the same hardship and determination that Cornish himself has experienced, lending to a sense of dire reality in the unreality of his images.