Most people know Rob Elowitch as a lifelong resident of Portland, Maine who runs one of the most respected art auction houses on the East Coast. Through his Barridoff Galleries, he sells great works by artists such as Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins, to art collectors and museums all over the world. But he has a secret, which is shocking to his art world colleagues.

But Rob Elowitch has a secret life: He’s a professional wrestler. Even his wife of 50 years has never seen him wrestle. Although he’s now 66 years old, Elowitch travels all over North America and Europe to wrestle under the “mat name” of Robbie Ellis. He takes on men in their twenties in dingy wrestling clubs in primarily working class neighborhoods and defies anyone who thinks age might make him a sucker. Age is incidental to Ellis, not a handicap. And it is in this second career that he finds his greatest lust for life and passion for the world.

Canvasman is a portrait of a man who is less concerned with doing what is expected of him than he is with living a life that is fueled by passion and the excitement of the wrestling ring. His journey is one that teaches us that if we follow our hearts, even if they take us in unlikely directions, we can live our lives uninhibited by age and stereotypes and find out who we really are.

Canvasman: The Robbie Ellis Story is a production of White Dog Arts and IB-Redcar Productions.

Canvasman: The Robbie Ellis Story was produced by Gary Robinov.

Visit the Canvasman: The Robbie Ellis Story website

[Canvasman: The Robbie Ellis Story originally aired on MPBN Community Films May 12, 2011.]