Eric David Schultz

10/10/68 - 10/9/2017

One of Eric’s favorite stories to tell was about an interview of Francis Bacon. He was asked “Why do you paint?” He replied, in his British accent, “Because I want to”.  Eric would laugh at his own story and say “Yeah, it’s that simple, I paint because I want to”.  If he had written his artist statement, that’s probably what it would have said.

Eric used many methods of applying paint on canvas or wood. He didn’t just use a brush; he threw paint, he squirted it directly out of the paint bottle. Sometimes he would spray the paint with a water and let gravity drip the paint, flipping the canvas around in different angles to create a drip effect. Using primarily acrylics, he would let a piece dry, come back to it, then paint opaque negative space around a subject or form he saw in the previous scene. He occasionally used multimedia as well, bits of paper, or dried up paint from the top of the paint tubes.  

His paintings were a visual and literal journal, as his writing is included in many pieces. His artwork reflects his raw, honest, direct response to his environment. His paintings tell stories about his relationships, his deep emotions, and his opinions about politics and current events. The emotion he expressed in his artwork was deeply personal, and yet is universal to the human experience. He didn’t care so much about what people thought of his work, he was more interested in evoking a reaction. The technical process of his painting style, is as complex as his own emotions. Layers upon layers; changing, churning, emerging.