Eric Carbrey

Eric Carbrey currently lives in Wichita Kansas along with his lovely wife of eight years, and three of the finest dogs Kansas has ever produced. He has graduated from Wichita State University where he spent his time studying art, specifically painting, and geology. Eric likes to paint big, some of his newest work is on large 8ft by 4ft wood panels. His art primarily deals with exploration of color, shape and space. When Eric paints he tries to lose himself in his painting trying to create off intuition and hopes to create something that the viewer of his art could also get lost in. He does create within a few parameters. In some paintings he is trying to create space, in some he is trying to take it away. In some paintings Eric tries to create complexity with simplicity, and in others simplicity with complexity. “I paint to create spaces that calm and confuse a place to stare at, meditations that are to hang on a wall.”

Shape, space and color all play a role in Eric’s paintings they all play off of each other creating an alliance between calm and chaos in the paintings. The calm comes from the use of solid flat color and intentional deliberate lines and shapes creating a marriage with the chaos and disorder that can be found in the shear amount of lines shapes and the complexity of the layers that create depth within the painting. Aligning the calm and the chaos brings visual harmony into his work. Its funky, not like the funk of a smelly gym sock, but the kind of funk that can be found in the music world. Its rhythm and rhyme, up and down, a flow in and out of itself. Eric likes to jump into a painting with only a faint idea as to what the end product will be. No concrete directions, just paint and something to paint on letting the moment take over. He hopes to create something that is pleasing to look at, while being very visual and graphic in nature, and at the same time perhaps a bit confusing, at first, to fully grasp the complexity of the work and its many layers in combination with its rich elaborate colors. The union of calm and chaos create harmony. It is his hope that these paintings construct a rich evocative visual experience. His work combines color and shape, with the compositional structure and illusion of space formulating works that are both pleasing and challenging to the eye.

Eric spends most of his time living his life, and making art. One of Eric’s biggest hobbies is eating homemade sandwiches in very busy public places. “There is a very gratifying feeling of having a homemade sandwich in public. I often think that people are jealous, or at least are wondering about my sandwich and how good it looks as I am eating it in front of them, in a place that is not associated with homemade sandwiches. You should go ahead and try it out, that way you fully understand what I mean.”