Art & Life with Eric Wilson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Wilson.

Eric, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
My parents are both artists, which lead me down a path where I felt like I was supposed to make art. Near the end of high school, I became infatuated with the idea of becoming a printmaker. I ended up attending Northern Illinois University in Dekalb Illinois because they had/have an amazing printmaking department. While other students were trying to perfect printing editions and printing t-shirts I wanted to use prints to make installation environments. My love and fascination for amusement parks, theme parks, and carnivals have driven me to make my own artificial worlds. I made light boxes, wallpaper, masks, etc., all about my own life experiences. After graduating from NIU, I groomed dogs as I continued to make lithographs (my primary print medium) at the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative. One year later I applied to graduate school and began attending the University of Arizona in 2015.

Although I was accepted into the graduate program for printmaking, I evolved into a multi-faceted installation artist by the time I left. At the UofA I became interested in American icons and legends, namely, the American West. I became a collaborative partner with a photography student named Dustin Shores. We were both outsiders (me from Illinois and Dustin from North Carolina) examining the mythical West that we only knew through movies, music, art, etc. I finished my graduate studies with my thesis work “Eric Wilson’s Great American Roadtrip”, a tongue in cheek installation celebrating the American road trip, at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. I graduated recently in May of this year. I continue to research and reexamine the America we live in, and I am working on a future installation celebrating the American farm and farmer, an homage to my roots in Illinois.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My creative interest are vast. Many times, I will learn a new skill and obsess over it. Because my work ranges drastically in terms of media (painting to diorama, printmaking to woodworking) my work is cohesive as a body of work as opposed to having a clear style. My individual pieces tend to make the most sense in an installation setting. These installations are closer to a roadside attraction or antique store than to traditional museum installations. The content of the work is meant to expose viewers to the hypocritic celebration of America and Americana. Visually, the work is fun, familiar, and inviting. It references movie posters, kitschy night-lights, wallpaper, movie sets, etc. The purpose of the familiar to invite people in and to spend time noticing what is off about the images I create. My hope is that people will feel a sense of nostalgia which will transform into a feeling of responsibility to critically think about the country we live in today and how we got here.

Do you think conditions are generally improving for artists? What more can cities and communities do to improve conditions for artists?
I think that it is difficult to be an artist today. There is such a range of what people think art is, but I do not feel that many see value in it. I would like to see more art that is engaging to a wide audience and makes people think differently than they ever have about the world we live in. Much of the most successful art in academia and galleries is conceptual, so the work needs a written explanation to tell the viewer what the work literally means.

This art tends to be exclusive and uninviting. Many artists have a lot of great things to share with their communities, but I believe many artists cannot live from creating artwork. The value of art is not only in the physical object but just as much in the promotion of conversation. I think that cities should have funding to allow an artist to create freely and to show meaningful art to more public audiences.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I have no work on display right now, though I am working on a few projects that I hope to exhibit soon. My work can be seen virtually on my website, ericwilson.us. I also post work and work in progress on my Instagram page @ericwilsonson.

Contact Info:

• Address: 617 e. 6th Street
  Tucson AZ
  85705
• Website: ericwilson.us
• Phone: 224-735-8653
• Email: ericwilsonprint@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericwilsonson/

Image Credit:
Lilly Berkley

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