Ellen Harvey's conceptual works are often understood as 'art about art'. Definitions of art and its value and meaning are recurrently questioned in Harvey¹s work. Ironically, cynically but in the end optimistically, Harvey analyses these questions by playing with concepts of truth, reality, identity, aesthetics, values, conventions, communication and perception. In doing so, she uses various forms of trompe-l'oeil to highlight the degree to which art is a highly imperfect representation of reality. In Harvey¹s world, art is always suspect, an impossible dream that never comes quite true.