// The "Robot Love Mural" by Eric Inkala | Photo Credit: www.ericink.com
Who says graffiti isn't art? Painter, Illustrator, Photographer and avid graffiti fan, Eric Inkala begs to differ. Inkala's colorful and thought provoking work has been featured in a bevy of group shows and two solo shows. The artist speaks to Art Nouveau Magazine and lets us into his world.
“I wouldn’t be doing what I do if it wasn’t for graffiti. I started writing in 98 and that’s when I started to realize my love for painting.”
Art Nouveau Magazine: How would you describe your work to someone who has never seen it before?
Eric Inkala: I would consider myself mostly a painter but I get into some photography, drawing, graffiti, and large scale outdoor murals. I paint canvases with really obsessive line work and bright, saturated color schemes. My subject matter is a combination of characters often involving some text, carried out in a heavily layered manner. Some elements of my canvases are very refined and detailed and some area’s are very abstract.
ANM: Who are some artists both before your time and contemporary that you admire?
EI: Picasso, Basquiat, Keith Haring, Lichtenstein, 70’s & 80’s NYC subway writers, Jeff Soto, Sam Flores, Siloette, Jeremy Fish, Boogie, Mr. Cartoon, George Thompson, Aaron Horkey, Doze Green and David Ellis, David Choe, Anthony Lister, Takashi Murakami, Stephen Powers, Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg
ANM: Do you think you need a college degree to have a successful career in art and design?
EI: Absolutely not, art school is definitely for some people though. There are some really amazing artist’s out there who are completely self taught and are very successful with what they do. I think if you know what you want to do it just takes time and extreme concentration. You just have to be very self motivated and patient. If you really love doing what you do, time shouldn’t be an issue, you just keep on painting and growing as an artist and putting yourself out there as much as humanly possible. If you do something long enough and have a lot of love for it naturally you are going to progress and get to where you want to be.
// Body Painting by Eric Inkala | Photo Credit: www.ericink.com
ANM: Could you tell us about your time at The California College of Arts and Crafts?
EI: Alot of it was really great. Some of it I could have done without though. It costs a lot of money and I wasn’t particularly into taking some of the required classes and paying that much for them. Im really glad that I moved to the Bay Area, [the] more I think cause it was a really great experience to be there and meet some really amazing new people. And very inspiring artistically living there. I think ultimately the experience at CCAC made me realize most that I don’t need to be in school to really do what I love doing. I just needed to get a studio and start painting and working on shows and experimenting with my own work.
ANM: And what made you decide to leave?
EI: I wanted to just really concentrate on my own work and doing shows and getting exposure. I didn’t want to wait 4 years to start showing my work. I also couldn’t justify the cost of it and then having that much debt to be a painter. It just didn’t make sense for me. Im really glad that I didn’t continue with school though, my art has taken me to some really amazing places and made me grow as a person and as an artist.
ANM: Back to your art, how do you discern which colors to use?
EI: It totally depends on the piece. Lately I have been experimenting with some colors that I almost never use and their relationship with some of my usual color schemes. [I'm] Trying to step outside of my comfort zone with a lot of it. I am naturally drawn to colors that contrast each other and I am partially color blind so I have always been drawn to really bright colors and shades of colors that contrast each other. That’s what stands out to me and what I see best in a painting. I also just want to paint pieces that immediately catch peoples eye and then they come back to examine the finer details after it catches their attention.
ANM: What is your favorite medium to work with? And what medium if any is hard for you but you would love to master?
EI: My favorite medium has always been spraypaint on concrete & acrylic on canvas. I have never tried to experiment with metal but would love to get into large scale metal sculptures of my characters, hand painted and put into crazy environments and just sit and watch what peoples reactions to them is.
ANM: Could you tell us about your Collaborations with John Grider & Gabe Combs?
EI: That was a really fun show. John and Gabe are both good friends of mine and very inspirational to me. Working on those pieces really made me step out of what was comfortable to me as a painter and really made me think a lot more about the composition of what [I'm] doing. You almost had to disconnect from what you were painting because when you passed any piece to the next person you didn’t know what was still going to be there when it was done, its fun to work off of other people’s creations as well. It makes you change what you usually do to make it work with the composition of the piece and vibe off of the other artist’s. All together it was a really great experience.
//Assorted pieces by Eric Inkala at Bryant Lake Bowl 2006| Photo Credit: www.ericink.com
ANM: How do you begin your process of creating your unique characters?
EI: I draw a lot so usually I don’t go from a sketch for my paintings. I will just freestyle outlines on canvases with paint or pencil to start them off. Then when the colors start getting laid down some of what was drawn will stay and a lot will end up getting painted over. I also paint with a lot of layers so I start with a basic idea and build it up layer by layer as I go. There is usually a lot of paint and imagery and layers of ideas before I get to the finished painting.
ANM: Has graffiti been a big influence in your work?
EI: Its probably been my biggest influence as an artist. I wouldn’t be doing what I do if it wasn’t for graffiti. I started writing in 98 and that’s when I started to realize my love for painting. I’m still a partially active writer and some of my best friends are writers and influence my work deeply. I don’t by any means do graffiti on canvas but I feel that each aspect of painting on the street and what I do on canvas feed each other and inspire each other equally.
ANM: How did you get into photography and what camera do you use?
EI: A good friend of mine in high school named Tony Basta. He was an amazing photographer and got me into taking photos. We used to go out to all the freight yards in and around Minneapolis and take photos and explore freight lines and abandoned buildings and shit. He passed away about a year after we started hanging out and part of my way of dealing with his death was to go out on solo missions to the yards we used to frequent and take flicks and reminisce. Since then I took a photo class at CCAC in 2003 and really enjoyed and grew from it. I still take photo’s all the time but have never shown any of them in any galleries at all just love taking them. The camera I have used since I started is an old manual Yashica. I had a digital camera for a minute to photograph art but it broke after a couple years so I strictly use film. Its way better anyways, and more personal. You have way more control with real film.
ANM: Do you have any upcoming shows or interesting projects you’d like to talk about?
EI: I just got done painting a wall inside of an amazing house out in palm springs, California and got a couple of paintings in a show at the M Modern gallery out there as well. I don’t know the date yet but check ericink.com for any updates on that. Other than that winter is about to be in full effect so I am going into hibernation mode and really concentrating on some large scale work and experiment with some new techniques and ideas.
ANM: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
EI: Check me out at ericink.com or flickr.com/photos/ericink If you are interested in contacting me in regards to showing work, commissions, murals or anything else hit me up. E@ERICINK.COM
