eric sebastian cross

I am a Virginia based painter and graphic designer. I was born in San Francisco and surrounded by the arts from day one. I have a BA in Studio Art from University of Santa Barbara. I have been working as a graphic designer at the University of Virginia for the last 25 years. In my down time, I cast off the shackles of staid academic brand identity and let the swirl of unfettered expression manifest  itself on canvas and paper. I have some pretty strong feelings about art but have yet to be able to concisely articulate them.  That said the ideas are beginning to coalesce.

Visually I like to play with the eye’s natural tendency to create form from implications of color and line. Putting it another way, one need not actually describe a form explicitly in order to conjure it in the eye of the viewer.  The eye wants lines and patterns to continue, it wants colors to relate to one another; so much so that it will fill in any necessary perception to satiate the expectation.  By combining both explicit and implied forms together in elaborate composition, an image is created that can be looked at again and again and each time reveal a new relationship, or series of relationships, within itself.

My intent is not imparted by directing the color and form toward a presupposed destination, rather, my technique is more about recognizing the opportunities to create relationships within the piece as it gains complexity and depth. With each new layer the painting itself suggests what it is trying to say and it his my job as the artist to make decisions to fulfill its wishes as best I can.