Hello, and thank you for visiting. 

Dō Nami

Welcome to SE Art Studios.  “SE” is me, Shawn Erickson.  I’m an engineer by trade, Artist by moonlight.  I work in sales, for automated machinery and use art, specifically painting, to bring a balance to my brain and my life.  As a machine designer and project engineer, for various industries and construction projects over my lifetime, It isn’t lost on me, that most of my career has been a collection of art forms of its own, but with very defined constraints.   In seeking balance, my art is an attempt to escape the restraints of thought tied to the physical world I am required to understand day in and day out.  The Art is really a self-fulfilling endeavor in that way, but I think it is relatable for most people.  We all need an escape once in a while.

Strangers

I began to paint in order to provide some calm space after it became obvious my work and the pressure to succeed at my job, was a source of stress and negative focus, even after I left the office.  I took a watercolor painting class at the Racine Art Museum’s, Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, and I found that I had some skills that might translate to success as an abstract painter.  I started with landscapes, pets, and found that the detailed figurative work, that I had neither the experience nor training for, could be equally as stressful and constrained, due to expectations I place upon myself.  To move past this, I decided I would try to draw from my experience in metallurgy, and take inspiration from material microstructures to create a departure from what we can see around us in the physical world, and to add an element of wonder to it.  In time, I moved toward abstraction, nearly void of real world reference, to allow painting with no expectation and no demands attached to it.  Having never been extensively trained or formally educated in art, or the techniques of the masters, I know my technical limitations, and I am at peace with them.  Figuratively, I have challenges to overcome when compared to highly trained, skilled Artists, but, what I can do, is let go of the constraints that can bind us to depicting life and space too perfectly, or influences us to be critical of spontaneity.  In my art, I try to break those binds, and allow myself the freedom to adopt the loose style, in which, at risk of sounding a bit dramatic, I can find my place of Zen.  I only hope that my Art will bring peace, pleasure and contemplation to the audience. 

Touch

I like to work in contrasting color schemes and complimentary colors to try to convey a loose visual experience that has a deliberate spontaneity and will captivate the audience’s interest, compelling a closer look at section of the work.  I want to look at the piece and feel the physicality of the strokes and marks on the canvas, and even hear the sound of the tools and materials engaging the canvas.  There can be a very basic theory or idea on the subject behind the beginning of each work, but seldom does that hold.  The pieces do have a life of their own most of the time.  I enjoy using found items to create interesting marks, as well as unconventional items that might be repurposed for painting tools.  I am influenced by some contemporary abstract painters and “street” and “Graffiti” artists.  I enjoy the style and the sometimes physical method of painting.  Being new to painting, I am always evolving and adapting to what is going on in my life, and the world, to shape the moods of what ends up on the canvas.  My hope is that it takes you where you want to go, or offers some experience that is greater than ordinary.  For me, the reward of creating my art is that it is something universally engaging, in such a way that, when different people look at the same marks or strokes on the canvas, they can see different things as it relates to them specifically.  People from different corners of the world, with polarized ideologies and experiences will be captured by Art.  In this way I feel any piece is a successful connection in the human spirit.  Enjoy!  I hope the experience is worthy of your time, and you will tell others to take a peek.

Kind Regards,

Shawn Erickson, the (would be) Artist.