"Rodigo" Print

Eric is an American painter currently living in Lagos, Portugal. As an abstract painter over the last 25 years, he has sold nearly 100 works all over the world in that time. The task of standing before a blank canvas might seem to be simple, but there are a thousand tiny decisions that have already been made beforehand and an even more complex ritual that unfolds after the first stroke is been applied. Abstract art is blatantly weightless and untethered. With every stroke, there are always new answers and new questions. To progress, one begins to construct a array of techniques, rules and judgements, but it's this challenge that draws him to the canvas. One of his biggest artistic influences was his grandfather, Marcel Guenette, who was a golf shoe maker at Footjoy in Brockton, Massachusetts for thirty years: "He could build anything with his hands. He would often be found in his small wood shop in the back yard in Winter Park, Florida. As a child, I would be transfixed as my grandfather constructed all sort of projects from scratch with whatever materials he had laying around. I am inspired to this day by his spirit and ingenuity. I feel that it is important for me to be involved in every aspect of the artwork, from the construction of the homemade frames, stretching house painter drip cloths as my canvas material and finishing most of the artworks with my simple white pine decorative framing." Taking a cue from his grandfather, he intentionally works with a variety of unusual materials, such as mis-tinted household latex, acrylic and spray paints on fiberboard, painter's drip cloths, bedsheets, couch lining, carpet, wood, styrofoam, foam core, cardboard and other substrates. Most of the structural and decorative framing is constructed by his own hand. The work take on a very organic feel in this age of the AI assault on some many aspects of our world. He rarely uses brushes. Paint is commonly applied with scrapers made from things like leftover wood frame pieces or small flexible plastic cutouts from used butter or yogurt containers. Most of the artwork is signed and dated with a construction nail, staying true to his grandfather's methods. Over the last 25 years, whether it was West Palm Beach, Florida, Albuquerque, New Mexico or Lagos, Portugal, He always thrived in makeshift art studios; dusty garages or a sea sprayed patio, all offer up a random infusion of fate with random bits of dog hair, dirt and seeds wending their way into each piece.