~ERIC WHITE does MIE !! . . and up-date !! . . . and correction !!


‘MIE’ – by ERIC WHITE, 2012. oil on panel, 10 x 8 in. part of the big portrait show opening to-nite at FREIGHT+VOLUME.

‘MIE: A Portrait by 35 Artists’ – OPENS To-NITE – SAT – JAN 21, 2012 / 6-8 PM
CURATED BY NICK LAWRENCE and MIE IWATSUKI
the show runs JAN 21 – Feb 25, 2012
FREIGHT +VOLUME – 542 W.24th ST – CHELSEA

p.s. wow. the first snow – you know, the real white stuff – in the city today !! it was looking more like Spring in winter, otherwise. no big storm – just a steady but gentle snowfall – but thick, thick enough to hold shape on the ground. nice. it’s still falling white, as of this morning. maybe we’ll get 5 or 6 ins. by noon !!

all good. all magic realism . . . including Eric’s painting. all earthly vibes in sync. at least in NYC.

Eric White’s surreal, eerie and ‘crystalline’ portrait . . . the perfect blow-out refractory image for an extremely auspicious weekend – bookended as it is, by the return of planetary wanderer the hi-octane Saturn this past Friday, and the start of the Chinese New Year, the all-powerful Year of the Dragon, this Monday !!

if the year of the dragon wasn’t already the most imperial of the 12 signs in the Chinese zodiac, imagine the kick start it gets – from this celestial alignment.

all the other Chines zodiac signs are earth-bound bio, in fact farm animals . . . except the sign of the dragon – which is mythic, and all-powerful, larger than life, the stuff of emperors – springing as it does from the arts, or better put: the visual and poetic realm of the imagination !!
i.e. the mind of man. the creative impulse.

in Western culture – think flying fire-breathing dragon x 1,000 – as in the myths, not to forget the flowering of Western literature – of King Arthur and Sir Lancelot, the cult of Camelot, the magic of Merlin and the questing knights of the round table.

in the visual realm: medieval tapestries and rock crystal vessels – anyone ?

as they are saying. . . The Year of the Dragon will breathe fire into the human spirit. and the return of Saturn initiates a new cycle of re-boot, ‘nourishment’ and justice. put them both together – and that’s not a bad way to go forward – no matter how you cut it.

UP-DATE: MONDAY 12:14 AM

ERIK WHITE has a very interesting portfolio of work up on his website, see: ERIC WHITE: images

including a big gray piece with large surface floating yellow disks, titled ‘FOYER’ – with its obvious reference/homage to DAVID SALLE.

they range from the classic ‘two tone’ gray ‘Hollywood’ realist painting – ‘THE DRIFTER’ . . . to the almost, basically ‘two tone’ – blue ‘crystal’ psychedelic ‘HEAVEN CAN WAIT’ – which seems to be the painterly source or starting point for the ultra-recent (!!) 2012 portrait of ‘MIE’.


ERIC WHITE, ‘THE DRIFTER’, 2009. oil on canvas, 40 x 60 ins. image c/o ERIC WHITE: images


ERIC WHITE, ‘HEAVEN CAN WAIT’, 2008. oil on canvas, 24 x 24 ins. image c/o ERIC WHITE: images

note for hyper realism super fanatics:
I even noticed a reference/homage to the hyper realist 303 Gallery painter, TIM GARDNER – and his family childhood ‘photo’ portraits, albeit with ‘spores’ – on another site.


array of small paintings by ERIC WHITE from his 2004 solo show, ‘Who Are Parents’ – at EARL McGRATH GALLERY, NYC.
it would be the small ‘family photo’ portrait of the young boy in the striped shirt . . . . . no ?
just saying. it’s interesting to see the dialogs develop in his work, and then take off.

UP-DATE: WED JAN 25, 2012 – CORRECTION !!

WOW. I STAND CORRECTED – TALK ABOUT HYPER REALISM !!
NO, that’s NOT an array of small paintings on a wall – that’s a PAINTING of a small array of canvases on a wall !! ha. you done got me.


ERIC WHITE, ‘Collusion: Angst’ 2003. oil on canvas, 24 x 24 ins.
nice job.

ERIC WHITE was raised in Michigan, and got his BFA (1990) from the RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL Of DESIGN. After a decade-long stint in California, he made his way to New York City, where he currently lives and works. according his CV he has been teaching at SVA since 2006.