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Ron Erickson is a favorite artist of mine. I’ve enjoyed his work from the first time I set eyes on it. Last year, I was away and missed his show at Farleigh Dickinson University. He has been nice enough to send me images of the paintings so that I can post them here, which I do with great pleasure. Enjoy.
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Suburban Eyes by Ron Erickson
I make paintings of my surroundings, of the world I live in, of the world we live in. They are scenes of the everyday mundane places we pass each day that catch in the corner of my eye. So much in this urban, suburban, industrial area exists and was made purely for utilitarian purpose, one layer upon another, with little forethought of aesthetic consequence. In this hodgepodge mosaic I find images that are redemptive in that they lend a beauty of line, shape and color and light to an otherwise chaotic world. I am moving forward the dialogue between artist and viewer. It is not my aim to simply give a photographic reproduction of what I see and experience but to also start a dialogue with the viewer to stimulate a question, to elicit an emotion, to impart an observation, rooted not just in the visual but drawn from the stored historical experience of the viewer.
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Bogota Route 80, Oil on Board, 24” x 18”, 2016
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Hackensack Exit, Oil on Board, 18” x 24”, 2016
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Maplewood Crossing, Oil on Board, 18” x 24”, 2016
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Night Glow, Oil on Board, 18” x 24”, 2016
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Off Maplewood, Oil on Board, 24” x 18”, 2016
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On Palisade, Oil on Board, 18” x 24”, 2016
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Outback on Oakwood, Oil on Board, 24” x 18”, 2016
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Paperboard Factory, Oil on Board, 18”x 24”, 2016
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Ridgefield, Oil on Board, 24” x 18”, 2016
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South Hackensack, Oil on Canvas, 54” x 48”, 2007
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South Hackensack Tanks, Oil on Board, 24” x 18”, 2016
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How I Learned to Paint by Ron Erickson
I’ve drawn and painted and sculpted as long as I remember. Never did go to Art School. However I do not claim to be self taught. I have studied with various people over the years and have gotten much from them. It started with Dorothy Langseder of Palisades Park who taught me the value of preparation, though in her class I was never prepared. I was ten years old and oil paint was a sensual joyous experience. I knew nothing of art as work. My painting of Golgotha was my first pointedly expressionist endeavor. Wow! The fire that I felt was amazing.
The first teacher that I consider to have had a profound influence on me, was Sarah Chamberlain, who taught art at South Kent School in the late 1970’s. She encouraged me to really look. To see. Then as an artist, creative, to make something that resonated from within, from that which I saw. Abstract what I see.
Through the years I’ve taken a handful of classes at the Art Students League of NY. The teachers at the Art Students League taught me the value of knowledge. Knowing, then putting that knowing into the work. Draw from the inside out.
Richard Diebenkorn, Oscar Bluemner, Edward Hopper, Piet Mondrian and many others are all painters that call to me, to say “Look at us. See how we do it. Can you learn something from us?
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You can check out more of Ron’s work here:
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/ron-erickson.html
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Ron with his wife Laura and daughter Ana
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