Mark Erickson

Background

About Mark Erickson

Mark & Elena Erickson Paintings The Markella Project Looking at the paintings of Mark & Elena Erickson is an experience in color and movement. Bright areas of pigment slash across a brilliant background or float above expansive landscapes. The viewer is gripped by an immediate and powerful response to the sheer explosion of color and the substance of the paint itself. In their relationship, both in marriage and their lives working together in the studio is a true collaborative spirit. Working together and separate in their large painting space, each helping the other in thought and deed. In early 2020 the times were right for true collaborative spirit to awaken. Steady work in the studio commenced and The Markella Project was born. Collaboration and solo work in painting, collages and writing/poetry were undertaken. Like none other before, the year brought an unique concentration and a sense of discovery. A quote by one of Mark Erickson’s painting professors stated, “My paintings are intended to be additions to rather than reflections upon life.” Hassel Smith may have meant to push his students to continue in the long tradition of putting paint on canvas. The paintings that Mark & Elena Erickson produce are interpretations of this same abstract language refined to high eloquence. A mid career, disciplined painter, Erickson offers an approach to abstraction in his paintings that have the essential elements of harmony, light and contrast. Elena's paintings match the intensity and startling colors, as they both keep their sights on new images and inspirations. Their work originated in theory from Abstract Expressionism, where in the mid 20th Century, a groundbreaking revolution in American art became a rich tradition and point of departure for Mark and Elena's work. Influences of painters of the 1950s are evident in their work, yet the direction is their own, clearly felt as the paintings breathe the fresh air of contemporary thought. Elena's initial direction and interest in art making originated in analog photography. Carrying her Canon camera everywhere she went and setting up a darkroom in her apartment bathroom in Basel, Switzerland. Moving later to the San Francisco Bay Area in California, Elena started studying abstract painting with her husband Mark, an established painter himself. That enriching background enabled her to find her own style of painting. Through trial and error, the painting techniques developed quickly until she found something that was her. Elena's paintings revolve around color, design, fabric and nature.