Studio Visit With Eric Parker

P - Where did you grow up?

EP - Way down in South Texas. San Antonio then Austin.  It was hot as hell, the land of extreme heat and cockroaches.

P - How did you end up in Brooklyn?

EP - In ’96, I came up to New York for my MFA at SUNY Purchase.  I lived in the hood in the Bronx for a few years, then made my way to Greenpoint, BK in 1999, right before Williamsburg blew up.

P - How does living here effect your work and studio practice?

EP - It’s pretty cool, you know.  There are a lot of cool young dudes doing some interesting shit.  Good records stores (reggae gets a lot of play around here), good coffee shops…I also live a few blocks away from my studio, which is pretty tight.

P - Where did your impulses for making art come from?

EP - I loved comic books like Zap and Freak Brothers, Mad Magazine was always around, too.  Where I grew up, in South Texas, there was no art around.  I got my visuals from stuff I liked, I saw Jaws and wanted to draw sharks.

P - Did the sub/underbelly culture of skateboarding/surfing/punk rock inform you as a young artist?

EP - For sure, absolutely.  The graphics from Neil Blender G&S boards had a huge impact on me.  I was a high school drop out and skaterat, those decks were so weird and oddball, no stupid shit like skulls, but weird stuff. I really love that three dogs sticker still.

P - Who were some of the major influencers?

EP - Pedro Bell.  He was the dude behind a lot of the Funkadelic album covers, loved him! My crew skated to P-funk back in the early 80’s.

P - What music are you listening to right now in your studio?

EP - JFA’s 1981 7” Blatant Localism!

P - Whats the most exciting thing you see happening in art right now?

EP - Bright colors!

P - Who out of all your peers continues to surprise you ?

EP - My boy KAWS is always on some next level shit.  Peter Saul is still keeping it fresh as hell… also,Todd James,  Eddie Martinez , and Jeff Elrod are killin’ it. I’m liking the shows at the Nudashank Gallery in Baltimore.

P - Whats on deck for your next show?

EP - Mixtapes vision paintings! Shout out to DJ Screw!I’m really psyched about my upcoming  show at Pace Prints. Opens 3-07-2013.  In the fall, my show is up at Honor Fraser in LA.We recently did a Norse hat collab, now we’re onto limited edition board shorts for the Standard. My crew is going to look fresh as hell.

P - Any advice for young artists?

EP - Stay away from irony, please.

Erik Parker is represented by Paul Kasmin Gallery, NY. He has a beautiful family and lives/works blocks from us here in Williamsburg Brooklyn. See more of his work Here