Munich (Mercury Series) Painting

Munich - Mercury Series - Mark Erickson Illumination floats against the imaginary black as coal galaxy. Influenced by the flat colors and text balloons of comic books, the paint is peeled back from the inside and split down the middle as you might attempt separating a piece of paper through to the center of its core. I exaggerate the effect, creating a composition that overtakes the imagery. I dramatize the aerial feeling/floating effect, letting them shine in an eye popping arena before the black plane. The surface is as smooth, as sliding your fingers along the cool metal skin of stainless steel. A shared passion for the Mercury space program with my Father Ernest Anders Erickson, an Air Corps bomber pilot during the Second World War and recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, was the doorway to the series. During the design of the Mercury spacecraft my father worked as a stress analyst and later was chosen to work with the top-secret division of Lockheed Aircraft and their Skunk Works Project. A vivid crystal clear night along the moon splashed evening sky. As the darkness comes in bright and cool when you are facing the painting, 'Hightower' it lights upon the wall with slanting rays of the night sky. Like a neon sign pointing to the coolest bar in town, 'Hightower' takes your attention from the get go, brings you into a mystic nights adventure of an Electric Church Social held by moonlight. In the direction of far more open in space and a liberating feeling of that space is quite clear. The painting is planned along a certain path I have been following still true to the 'Mercury Series,' I have been working on for years. Simple, maybe at first glance, though arresting on second look, a full blown emotional color blast is before you. No candyland moment or ice cream parlor stop, a detour into a Popland Carnival is apparent. 'Hightower' is part nightscape and part a Lunar sunrise. Nature stands in vivid clarity in the painting. While never lost in using striking colors, it takes the bold step with an intense deep black as the background, pure mystery with swirling shapes of colors sweeping brush strokes running across the entire breath of the canvas. When it all finally comes together, a stunning image is beheld. As the man said standing by the window, comparing the painting to the night's sunset spreading across the western skies, 'In this painting you may have to go out of your way to get to where you'll end up, once there it's well worth the journey.' The Mercury Series features bright organic shapes, that hover weightlessly over a field of black, subtly suggesting figures and objects floating in the dark, the still expanse of space.