Artist full name: Eric Linwood Conklin
Birth date, birth place: April 20, 1950, Baltimore, Maryland
Subject matter for which known: Trompe l’ Oeil, Still Life, Perspective Boxes, Genre, Anamorphic Illusions
Style of work: Traditional Realism
Method/Mediums: Old Dutch Masters, hand-mixed oils and individually prepared panels and canvases.
Museums:
Territorial Restoration Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas
The Sherlock Holmes Museum, London, England
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin
Special Exhibitions:
Fifth Anniversay, Annie Award Winners, September – October 2004
Anne Arundel County Cultural Arts Fdtn. Annapolis, Maryland
Sixth Annual International Summer Salon, June – August 2003
New York, New York
Visual Deceptions: Trompe l’ Oeil, April – June 2003
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum Wausau, Wisconsin
Trompe l’ Oeil Style, Fashions in Art, March – June 2003
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Works by Maryland Artists, 2000
First Lady Frances Hughes Glendening, Exhibit III Government House,
Annapolis, Maryland
Artists Biography:
Eric L. Conklin, b. 1950, American
Eric was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Thelma Helgoe Conklin, was an artist in ceramics and porcelain. By age five, Eric and his twin sister April, were always in her studio to ‘help.’ Eric began his art studies in grade school with the encouragement of Louis Schatt, a teacher who loved and promoted the serious study of art to his students. It was here that Eric painted his first oil painting.
In the sixties, Eric was part of a small group of artists Louis Schatt mentored and followed to their graduation. Even then, Eric’s paintings had a high degree of detail. After graduation the group separated and their lives took different paths. Eric trained to become an architectural delineator but failed to find work and took a job as a commercial artist and silver engraver. After several years and with no clear direction for his future, his father convinced him to work in the family trucking business.
In 1981 he met Victoria Davis and the couple married in 1984. Vikki’s commitment and encouragement allowed Eric the time to study art. The couple decided to direct full-time attention to Eric’s future in art. Both went back to school, Vikki taking business management and art courses, and Eric furthering his knowledge and skill in Trompe l’ Oeil and Dutch Old Masters.
Eric studied two years with noted still-life artist Scott Royston from the Schuler School of Fine Art in Baltimore and then with private ateliers at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, in Annapolis, Maryland. He furthered his education with an intense study of optical illusions, anamorphic images and perspective boxes. His love for trompe l’oeil paintings was spurred by the optical illusions he saw in paintings by Peale, Harnett, Haberle and Van Hoogstraten. Eric’s fascination for the Flemish and Dutch Masters persuaded him to build the first working model of a Perspective Box in the 21st century.
Eric’s commitment to his art is in the tradition of the Old Dutch Masters. He prepares his own oil paints by using dry pigments mixed with black oil. His panels and canvas are prepared in the traditional European method, using rabbit skin glue and paris whiting as a ground. Meticulous in his attention to detail, Eric spends time researching every aspect in his field of endeavor…painting techniques, composition, art materials, even the Old Masters themselves are all subject to his intense scrutiny. A perfectionist, he continuously strives to take his work to ever higher levels. He paints from life, setting up a model of every painting, going to extraordinary lengths to achieve historical authenticity and accuracy.
Imagination, antiques and humor are trademarks of his paintings. Recently asked… “what ever happened to your teacher Mr. Lou Schatt?” Eric’s answer… “Lou comes by the studio once a week, just to keep me in line.”
Eric Conklin’s paintings are in private, corporate and museum collections worldwide.
Eric Conklin is included in Marquis, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Art and Who’s Who in the World. Eric is a member of the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis, MD; Associate Member of the Allied Artists of America, New York, NY and founding member of The Trompe l’ Oeil Society of Artists, Fountain Hills, AZ.
Reviews and Articles:
Southwest Art Magazine, Nov 2004
Trompe l’ Oeil Society of Artists
Review of: Smith Kramer Traveling Art Exhibit
Vista Magazine, Birds in Art Review August 2004
By: Jane Weinke, Curator of Collections
Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
American Arts Quarterly, Winter 2003
By: James F. Cooper, Editor and Publisher
Trompe l’ Oeil Society of Artists
Review of: New York Exhibit
ARTnews Magazine, June 2003
By: Valerie Gladstone
Trompe l’ Oeil Society of Artists
Review of: New York Exhibit
Numismatist Magazine, April 2003
By: Cathy L. Clark
Trompe l’ Oeil Society of Artists
Fool the Eye, Numismatic Art with a Twist
Southwest Art Magazine, March 2002
Best of the West
Trompe l’ Oeil Society of Artists
Special Awards:
2003 Annie Award for Visual Arts
Anne Arundel County Cultural Arts Fdtn.
Annapolis, Maryland
Best of Show 2001
York Art Association
York, Pennsylvania