Name
Eric Joseph Leffler
About
Painter and Printmaker
b. 1986 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Eric Joseph Leffler earned an M.F.A. from the Universidad de Vigo (Pontevedra), Spain, after graduating with a B.F.A. in Painting and a B.A. in Spanish from Indiana University (Bloomington).
He is bilingual in Spanish and English, after living, working and studying in Spain from 2010-2013.
Since 2014, Eric and his wife, Elena, and their dog, Goya, live and maintain their studio practice in Long Beach, CA.
Currently he is an Art Instructor at Coastline Community College's Newport Beach campus. He has also worked as a Lecturer at Cal State University Long Beach, and as a Curatorial/Collections Assistant at Chapman University
Artist Statement
Eric Joseph Leffler paints the modern landscape as a template for his formal interests in color and design. Inspiration comes from the interplay between geology and architecture, and basically anywhere that he recognizes patterns in everyday life - visually, in objects such as quilts, rugs, puzzles, etc., and conceptually, in quotidian interactions, idiomatic expressions, and formulaic manners of speaking.
His paintings feature vibrant colors and geometric patterns that are often in conflict: man-made structures interacting with, and being gradually overtaken by, nature.
Words appear like subliminal messages on buildings, boats, containers, storefront and restaurant signs, billboards, etc., disrupting the landscape, and suggesting clues to an ambiguous meaning behind each painting. The words combine to recount a history of consumer culture and deterioration, and the world these paintings depict is a seemingly human-less, perhaps not-too-distant future in which abandoned technology continues functioning on autopilot while bleak remnants of generic human interactions, and optimistic corporate slogans continue echoing into oblivion.
The drawings, prints and collages can be a means of working out color ideas for paintings, or for creating combinations of colors that resonate emotionally with specific memories or nostalgic wanderings. Things like Sudoku and crossword puzzles, discarded Bingo cards, etc. have become a template for color and compositional experiments some of which inform larger paintings.
They are also about the experience of creation - dropping out of the world of words or time, and being in a state of reverie that eventually takes over, where there is no perception of the passage of time. There is a sensation of being in the past, present, and future all at once, and then eventually, as the painting unfolds, there is color, form, texture and these elements all flow together.
For interviews and information about Eric and his work:
In 2021 for ShoutOut LA:
https://shoutoutla.com/meet-eric-joseph-leffler-painter/
In 2019 for VoyageLA:
http://voyagela.com/interview/art-life-eric-joseph-leffler/
Interview on YouTube:
And check out his work on Instagram: