• Well Formed Formula (de la serie Engineering a Flower)

    “Well Formed Formula (de la serie Engineering a Flower) *”

    Date 2004
    Dimensions 71 3/4"x 63 1/4"x 2"
    Category Painting
    Medium Mixed media on canvas
    Genre Abstract
    Period 21st Century
    Collection * Title Translation: Well Formed Formula (from the series Engineering a Flower)
  • Feasible Solution (de la serie Engineering a Flower)

    “Feasible Solution (de la serie Engineering a Flower) *”

    Date 2004
    Dimensions 65 1/4"x 84"x 2"
    Category Painting
    Medium Mixed media on canvas
    Genre Abstract
    Period 21st Century
    Collection * Title Translation: Feasible Solution (from the series Engineering a Flower)
  • Solution (de la serie Moving Towards Entropy)

    “Solution (de la serie Moving Towards Entropy) *”

    Date 2004
    Dimensions 57"x 71"x 2"
    Category Painting
    Medium Mixed media on canvas
    Genre Abstract
    Period 21st Century
    Collection * Title Translation: Solution (from the series Moving Towards Entropy)
  • Ocean Spill (de la serie TOXICO)

    “Ocean Spill (de la serie TOXICO) *”

    Date 2005
    Dimensions 36"x 28 1/2"x 2"
    Category Painting
    Medium Mixed media on canvas
    Genre Abstract
    Period 21st Century
    Collection * Title Translation: Ocean Spill (from the Series TOXIC)
  • Spill (de la serie TOXICO)

    “Spill (de la serie TOXICO) *”

    Date 2005
    Dimensions 36"x 28 1/2"
    Category Painting
    Medium Mixed media on canvas
    Genre Abstract
    Period 21st Century
    Collection * Title Translation: Spill (from the series TOXIC)
  • Hay Vida en las Tinieblas (de la serie ENTROPY)

    “Hay Vida en las Tinieblas (de la serie ENTROPY)* ”

    Date 2006
    Dimensions 52"x 42"x 2"
    Category Painting
    Medium Mixed media on canvas
    Genre Abstract
    Period 21st Century
    Collection * Title Translation: There is life in Darkness ( from the Series ENTROPY)
  • Sin Título (de la serie ENTROPY)

    “Sin Título (de la serie ENTROPY) *”

    Date 2006
    Dimensions 52"x 42"x 2"
    Category Painting
    Medium Mixed media on canvas
    Genre Abstract
    Period 21st Century
    Collection * Title Translation: Un-titled (From the ENTROPY Series)
  • Sin Título (de la serie ENTROPY)

    “Sin Título (de la serie ENTROPY) *”

    Date 2006
    Dimensions 30"x 40"x 2"
    Category Painting
    Medium Mixed media on canvas
    Genre Abstract
    Period 21st Century
    Collection * Title Translation: Un-titled (From the ENTROPY Series)
  • Sin Título (de la serie ENTROPY)

    “Sin Título (de la serie ENTROPY) *”

    Date 2006
    Dimensions 74 1/4"x 96"x 2"
    Category Painting
    Medium Mixed media on canvas
    Genre Abstract
    Period 21st Century
    Collection * Title Translation: Un-titled (From the ENTROPY Series)
  • Sin Título (de la serie ENTROPY)

    “Sin Título (de la serie ENTROPY) *”

    Date 2006
    Dimensions 42"x 52"x 2"
    Category Painting
    Medium Mixed media on canvas
    Genre Abstract
    Period 21st Century
    Collection *Title Translation: Un-titled (From the ENTROPY Series)

Eric French

Indiana, USA, 1969

Biography Details

Painter, sculptor, draftsman, digital artist, photographer, and video artist. French was awarded first prize for painting at the Chase Manhattan Bank’s “Young Art” Biennial in 1993, a year before he finished his bachelor’s degree at the Puerto Rico School of Plastic Arts. He pursued his master’s degree at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he received the Malcolm Propes Fellowship for the best portfolio. French returned to Puerto Rico in 1996 and has since taught at the Puerto Rico School of Visual Arts and the University of Puerto Rico. His forceful colors and dramatic compositions are constants in his production. Recently, he has emphasized the physicality of pigment, working in mixed media with heavy impasto work and sometimes applying paint directly from the tubes, as in the series of paintings included in his 2006 exhibition Entropy. His approach to the conception of a work is “idea, thesis, and research,” and he attempts to follow that intellectual process in the creative process that follows. He often manufactures his own pigments, and he is interested in the use of traditional and non-traditional methods and how their dynamics affect the conception of the work itself.

Artist Statement

“For the past sixteen years, I have concentrated my efforts in searching for a better understanding of the possibilities surrounding the use of traditional and non-traditional methods and how these affect the conception of the work itself.  Before I begin to work on a series, I concentrate on developing a thesis, where a lot of the primary work is researching written information on the subject.  Then I try to imagine ways to get from thought to thing and try to apply the same frame of thought into the process of creating the work itself.  A second phase will be concerning materials and colors, some of which I make with pigments and mixtures of pigments of my own recipes.  After this I move into the selection of the materials that I will use or the ones that best suit the project, whether exploring academic methods like painting, drawing, or sculpture. I also explore more contemporary methods, such as digital imagery, photography and film”.    


Eric French

Formation

Education 

1994-1996

  • Master of Art. Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia, United States

1989-1996

  • Bachelor of Visual Arts. Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Professional Experience

1996- present

  • Professor. Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Professor. Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2000-2003

  • Professor. Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1994-1996

  • Assistant Professor.  Steven Knudsen, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia, United States
  • Assistant and installer of gallery exhibitions.  Exhibit A Gallery, Pinnacle Gallery, Bergen Hall Gallery, West Bank Gallery, Hamilton Hall Gallery, Henry Hall Gallery, Preston Hall Gallery and Savannah International Airport, Savannah, Georgia, United States 
  • Framer of works of art.  Art Works, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia, United States

1992-1994

  • Antiques Restorerf. El Alcázar: Art and Antiques, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1990-1992

  • Gallery Assistant. Galería Latinoamericana, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Exhibitions

Solo Shows

2013

  • Ten Billion Light Years in Diameter, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2006

  • Entropy, Galería La Casa del Arte, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2004

  • Engineering a Flower, Galería Gandía, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2001

  • Tribulaciones, Galería Viota, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

1996

  • MFA, Apocalyptic Imagery, Bergen Hall Main Gallery, Savannah Collage of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia, United States

Group Shows

2013

  • Puerto Rico Puerta al Paisaje, Feroz/Feraz, Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2008

  • 3 Frente a la Pintura, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2007

  • Contexto puertorriqueño: del rococó colonial al arte global, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Medios en Pequeño Formato, Museo de Arte de Caguas, Caguas, Puerto Rico
  • Museo de Las Américas, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2005

  • Exposición Inaugural, Galería La Casa del Arte, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2004

  • Exposición Inaugural, Galería 356, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2003

  • Exposición Inaugural Colección Permanente, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2001

  • Contemporary Puertorican Art, Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, Coral Gables, Miami, Florida, United States

2000

  • Tesoros de la Pintura Puertorriqueña, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Evolución de Arte Joven, Federal Insurance Company, City View Plaza, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1998

  • Cien Años Después, Cien Artistas Contemporáneos, Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1995

  • Grupo X, Museo de las Américas, San Juan, Puerto Rico 

1994

  • II Bienal de Santo Domingo, Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

1991

  • Noventa años del bodegón puertorriqueño, Galería Latinoamericana, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Awards, Distinctions and Achievements

1994

  • Selected. II Bienal de Pintura, Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • Malcolm Propes Scholarship. Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia, United States

1993

  • First Prize. Tercera Bienal de Arte Joven, Chase Manhattan Bank, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Artist of the Year. Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1992

  • Selected. III Certamen Nacional, Academia de Artes y Ciencias, San Juan,  Puerto Rico

Collections

  • Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California, United States
  • Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Ferre Rangel, Inc., San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • COOPACA Inc., Arecibo, Puerto Rico

Bibliography

Magazines

“Eric French”.  Revista Arte Latinoamericano, 1 de junio de 2006, pp.26-27.


“Eric French At Galería Gandía”. Revista Arte Al Día Internacional (Miami, FL), 6 de julio de 2004, núm. 103, p. 67. 


“Construyendo Una Flor de Eric French, En Galería Gandía”. Revista Art Premium (San Juan, PR), 5 de mayo de 2004, vol.1, núm 2, pp. 6 y 33.


“Eric French”. Revista Arte al Día Internacional (Miami, FL), 8 de septiembre de 2004, núm 98, p. 3.


“Eric French Invites Us To Plunge Into The Mirror And The Cliff”. Revista Southward Art Latinamerican Art 


Review, 3 de agosto de 2002, vol. 3, núm. 7, pp. 106-115.


“Eric French”. Revista Arte Al Día Internacional (Miami, FL), 7 de agosto de 2001, núm 87, p. 9.