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Erica Eyres (b. 1980, Winnipeg; CA), PhD is a Glasgow-based visual artist. Favouring an absurd aesthetic as the artist works between drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, installation and video, Eyres’ inter-disciplinary practice unpacks the complex ways in which social categories relating to womanhood, domesticity, heterosexuality, the amateur and the ordinary are constructed and embodied.
Erica Eyres’s paintings and drawings mostly take their source material from vintage pornographic magazines. Caught somewhere between spontaneous fun and self-conscious affectation, the women in Eyres’ paintings resist any idea of eroticised passivity. Instead, the artist amplifies an uncanny sense of psychological interiority, subverting the expectations of shallow surface stimulation that define pornographic visual coding.
Profile picture by Karen Asher
How does a regular day look like for you in Glasgow?
Most days, I’m either working on paintings in my studio at home or going to the ceramics studio to work on sculptures. I try and break up the day and get some form of exercise so I don’t turn into a hunchback. I listen to podcasts to make myself laugh. Maybe go to an opening, or go to a movie.
I’m curious. Growing up in Canada, what kind of kid were you? What did you enjoy doing, and how did you spend your time?
I was an only child and pretty shy. I talked to myself a lot and made up stories that I would act out when no one was around. I was always drawing and watching my favourite movies on repeat.
I’m curious, what brought you to Scotland? And what made you stick around?
I moved to Glasgow in 2002 to do my MFA at Glasgow School of Art and never left. The longer I was here, the less likely leaving became. I’ve been here for more than 20 years so it’s home. It feels easy to be here, like it’s not too big and not too small.
So when did you start to paint, and when did you start taking being an artist seriously?
I’ve been working as an artist since graduating from my MFA in 2004. While studying in Glasgow, being around other artists, I started to see what being an artist was like. I didn’t understand what being an artist meant before that. I started painting while studying in Canada, but stopped to concentrate on drawing while doing my MFA. One of my lecturers at GSA told me I wasn’t really”engaging” with painting, which probably discouraged me. I started again during the pandemic, just because I had an urge to and wanted to be able to work more with colour. I thought, I’ll try and if it doesn’t work, I won’t tell anyone. That’s how I usually start anything new.
Alright, let’s talk about your work now. What made you gravitate towards painting women portraits, instead of landscapes, objects or men for example?
I seek out images that have an emotional pull for me, and that I identify with on some level. It’s hard to describe what I’m looking for, but I know it immediately when I see it. I’m just not interested in landscape. I’ve tried painting still lives but it doesn’t work for me. I sometimes paint pictures of men, but it is mostly women. Initially, I always looked for images of women who were looking at the camera and revealed some form of awkwardness. As if they were mimicking a professional model but something was “off”. Lately, I’ve been doing a series of paintings of the backs of women’s heads, and extreme close-ups that are more anonymous and have a different tone.
Your paintings and drawings mostly take their source material from vintage pornographic magazines. Can you tell me about that? And what is it about the vintage era that resonates with you?
I look for certain facial expressions and poses, so the pornographic element isn’t necessarily important. I’m looking for awkwardness. In terms of the vintage era, I grew up in the 1980s and 90s, so there’s a familiarity to the images. When I was a kid, my parents were teaching themselves how to do photography. We had all these photography manuals around the house that I used as a reference for drawing. These books were called things like “How to Photograph Women”. That stuck with me for some reason. I also remember finding my dad’s pornography collection and having strange feelings of curiosity and repulsion. The first porn I watched was a VHS copy of something that was dubbed over in English and involved a story about people laundering money through a fake funeral business. I wish I could remember what it was called so I could find it!
Would you consider yourself a nostalgic person?
I think so. I feel very sentimental when I look at old objects from my childhood, but also have to hide some of them away as it feels overwhelming to see them all the time. When my father died, I put all our belongings into storage on my uncle’s farm. I had to go through it ten years later and had the impulse to keep everything but of course, that wasn’t possible. I narrowed it down to a few things, which now seems like it’s still too much. I realised I don’t need those things to remember the past.
Your work also unpacks the complex ways in which social categories relating to womanhood, domesticity, heterosexuality, the amateur and the ordinary are constructed and embodied. Can you tell me about that as well? And what are you hoping to convey?
Although I agree that my work is about all those things, it’s not something I’m conscious of while working. I choose the images or objects instinctively, without knowing why I’m attracted to them. When the work is finished, with time, I start to see what it is about. Quite often, it reveals something personal that I didn’t intend to. As though I can see aspects of my life or thoughts being presented to me. But I also want the work to remain ambiguous so people can find their own narratives.
So besides painting, you’re also drawing, making ceramics, sculpting, as well as installation and video. What makes those outlets some of your preferred mediums of expressing yourself?
They all let me do different things. I’ve been drawing for as long as I remember and the painting is an extension of that while allowing me to work with colour. The ceramics and sculptures are also similar to drawing because I use tools like pencils and slowly form them into shape. The sculptures are figurative without depicting actual figures. They’re corpse-like, deflated figures or things left behind. The videos take a lot of mental preparation and planning. I usually start with a ridiculous idea, but think well it’s the only idea I have. I have to force myself to start, but once I start I really get into it and work compulsively, filming sections over and over until it’s right. I film the videos myself and play all the roles. I have to do them in isolation like I’m talking to myself. If someone comes in the room I have to stop.
Can you walk me through your creative process, from beginning to end result? (For a medium you prefer)
They’re all different, but I always start with an image or object or some point of inspiration. For the paintings, I collect as much reference material as I can. I buy books and magazines online and usually don’t know what’s in them until they arrive in the post. Then I narrow it down to a few images, scan these, cropping them in different ways. I think about how big they should be. I always feel doubt, maybe they won’t work out. I change things along the way and edit out bits of information The paintings are done in layers, an underpainting, and a few more layers until they come together. When I show them, I think about the narrative that emerges between them all, what they say as a group and whether I should show them alongside sculptures. I’m trying to evoke narrative while also evading narrative.
Can you also tell me about your use of symbolism?
I don’t know if it’s symbolism or association. I find that certain images and objects evoke particular memories and narratives in the viewer based on their life experience.
How do you deal with creative blocks?
I work compulsively, but often worry that I will run out of ideas and won’t know what to do. I keep the momentum going and by constantly looking for new images and objects to work from. There’s always an anticlimactic feeling after having a show, and that can give me a block, but I try to accept that it’s just a feeling that will pass and continue working.
Can you describe your studio practice for me? And are there any necessities you have to have with you or present in the studio?
I need to listen to something while I work, usually podcasts. Something dumb that will make me laugh. I like it when I can send work away and clear some space, otherwise, I start feeling like I’m swimming in my work and it gives me existential dread.
In a parallel universe who would you be? and what would you be doing?
I don’t know haha. Probably being an artist. I love movies and books about New York in the 1980s, so maybe I would be there doing the same thing in another place and time.
Can you tell me a story about a time when a connection with someone had a big impact on you?
When I was studying in Canada, my painting teacher took our class to an opening of Marcel Dzama at Winnipeg Art Gallery. When we were there, my teacher said to me, this is the kind of work that anyone can enjoy. Meaning that you didn’t need to be trained in art or need additional information to appreciate it. It was the first time I realised that art didn’t have to be overly serious, that it could be funny and melancholy.
What qualities do you find most important in the people you choose to spend time with?
A sense of humor. I have trouble connecting with anyone who’s allergic to humor.
Anybody you look up to?
Nathan Fielder. My friend and I always watch episodes of Nathan for You and it somehow feels therapeutic to watch someone be so shamelessly awkward.
How do you approach color?
I am attracted to images with vibrant colours, but prefer when the paintings are more muted. I don’t know if I have a particular approach. I recently became worried that I don’t know anything about colour and tried to read a bunch of colour theory books but didn’t get very far and it didn’t change anything for me.
What motivates you?
I work compulsively. Like there’s a perfect painting or sculpture out there and I have to find it. I constantly feel like I’m chasing an image.
How would you describe a perfect day?
The rare sunny day in Glasgow feels perfect. Everyone gets over-excited and drunk in the park.
Alright Erica. I always ask these two questions at the end of an interview. The first is. What’s your favorite movie(s) and why?
The World According to Garp. I love Robin Williams in it, and it’s a movie I used to watch over and over as a kid.
The Lenny Bruce movie. I don’t know why, I also used to watch that repeatedly as a kid. There’s a part after his divorce and he talks about being a single dad that always makes me cry.
The second is. What song(s) are you currently listening to the most right now?
Milwaukee Here I Come by George Jones.