Painting & Drawing Professor John Erickson opens a new exhibition at Phillips Gallery on June 16. There will be a reception on Friday, June 16, from 6-9pm, and the show will be on view through July 7.

My intentions are valuable but often lead to a dead end. Then comes a reaction which turns into another intention. This process repeats itself like a "Dog Chasing its Tail" and the thoughts occur "Is this Progress and I used to be Good"?! Much of this new work explores the gap or crack between various assumptions about reality, that surrender to Contradiction and Paradox. Homogeneity is Suspect! Moments of Realism punctuate the chaos like Condiments on a Salad that needs a little protein. The Landscapes don't seem to "Suffer" from this Neurosis. They Usually take two or three hours to complete and are painted on location "Plein Air". I see them as postcards sent forward from the past by a Prodigal who still Praises Nature. 
J.E. 2023

John Erickson was born and raised in Magna, Utah. In 1976 he received a BFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Utah, studying under the direction of Alvin Gittins and Douglas Snow. In 1975 he attended The Summer Fellowship at Yale University, studying with Wolf Kahn, Louis Finkelstein and Phillip Guston. He returned to the University of Utah for graduate school and received his MFA in 1981. After graduating, he began teaching fine art at the University of Utah and has been an Assistant Professor there for over 30 years. He also teaches summer workshops and is involved in Art Access, a program that brings the arts to those who otherwise would not have the resources to explore it.

John enjoys a variety of mediums including latex, acrylic, oil and oil pastels. His love of nature stems from having spent a lifetime in the outdoors hiking and exploring the backcountry wilderness.

His works are an exploration of interior and exterior space and planes. Landscapes made by man and nature are quoted with commentary and depth. His longtime study of figure structure gives grounding to free brushwork and reflective boundaries, broken and kept.

John Erickson:
Phillips Gallery
444 E 200 S
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Gallery Hours:
T-F 12-5pm, Sat 12-4pm
https://www.phillips-gallery.com/