Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Mark Erickson was born in Southern California and completed his education in California, Germany, and Italy. He completed his art education at the Academy of Art College and the Art Institute in San Francisco. Erickson has exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New Orleans. He has collectors in Germany, France, Japan, Italy and across the United States
Erickson concerns himself with transcending the picture plane, and in his newest series of paintings, he plays with both flattening the surface and creating abstracted objects. They float behind his imaginary creations, enabling a world of depth in the work's black galaxy. When asked about the origin of the apparent lettered shapes and colors, he calls them 'melted cartoons' and describes the style as 'Cartoonesque.'
He was influenced by the flat colors and text balloons of comic books and began to abstract them from the inside out. He exaggerates the effect, creating paintings in which composition is more important than content.
By mixing metallic paints with oils and acrylics, he further dramatizes the floating elements, letting them shine in an eye-popping arena before the blackened plane. The exaggerated spaces in Erickson's paintings give the works a magnificent presence and power.
EDUCATION
San Francisco Art Institute MFA Painting
San Francisco Art Institute BFA Painting
University of San Francisco, Ca.
International School of Torino, Italy
US Air Force School, Munich, Germany
https://www.saatchiart.com/MarkjErickson