ERIC INKALA ARTIST
ERIC INKALA @drinkala Brooklyn-based, Eric Inkala, is a self-taught artist whose highly visual and ever-evolving style has ripened from graffiti to pop art to contemporary art. His work presents a playful graphic language in the form of a signature character who serves as a vehicle for an autobiographical narrative. It’s through this personal storyline that Inkala is able to channel thoughts and emotions into expressions of shape, color and text. His universally approachable concept is amplified through increasingly complex patterns and symmetry, which over the years have reflected both the abstract escapades of his trademark character and Inkala’s own artistic journey. Working primarily in acrylic, his paintings vary in size from large-scale canvas to sculpture, prints and small works on paper. Recent projects include large scale murals for clients such as, Common (@ hi.common), ODA New York, In Bloom STP, Oddfellows NYC and various collaborations with The Bushwick Collective. Recent gallery shows include group shows at Parlor Gallery, Spoke Art, Kate Oh gallery in New York and South Korea, Kaaboo Texas with Waas Gallery and Solo Shows at 212 Arts and The Core Club in New York City as well as an up coming solo show at Fort Works Art in Texas.
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Q&A Going for total saturation—The Electric Acid KoolAcid Test is channeling itself through Eric Inkala’s work as he rebirths it to his own urban identity of today. Eric, your work is incredibly vibrant and joyful. We’re love to hear where the seeds of your vision come from and more about your journey as an artist, starting as a graffiti artist. When did you know you were an artist? I would say, I was in early high school when I really realized my love for art. As a kid, I was always drawing but really made the switch after I started doing graffiti. That world really opened me up to be more artistic and made me want to explore more outside of what I was doing on the street. After my sophomore year in high school, I applied to an arts high school and got accepted for the remainder of my high school years. That was what gave me the intro and encouragement to really get down with the art stuff. I was introduced to all mediums and that’s when I discovered my love for painting. Where did you grow up? Was art present in your life? I grew up in Minneapolis Minnesota. And, yes, very much so, my mother has always been super artistic so I definitely got it from her. My parents also were super supportive of me doing all of the art stuff throughout the years so that definitely helped shape me as an artist. What inspires you? I’m inspired by everyday life in New York and everything that it has to offer. Other artist friends and painters, graffiti still inspires me a lot as well. I’m very inspired by colors and their effect on people. Tell us about your technique and your process. My work is really an exploration of color and abstraction. Exploring form through cutting up images
of drawings and re-appropriating them into new compositions. In each composition in any given painting, could be the result of up to twenty drawings put into its form. Then when I start the painting process my color selection happens very organically. A lot of people think my work is very planned out but I like to leave a lot to chance for exploration when choosing color schemes. Starting with a dominant few colors and then slowly building it out from that. You have your own unique iconography in your art. Can you tell us more about that and where that comes from both outside and within you? Yeah Yeah when I started I really was drawing and painting only letters on the street so when I started to actually paint and come up with my own visual dialog it stemmed from that. I then started to draw these characters that have evolved over time and become a signature of my work, that sort of work as a vehicle to express certain things through abstraction. Some of my work also deals with letters still, sometimes I do these cursive streams of consciousness drawings that are very abstract and super freeflowing and end up as patterns inside of the forms in my paintings. Your work has sometimes been compared to Kenny Scharf and Kaws, How do you see your work in relation to theirs? Who do you look to for inspiration? My work has similarities in a few ways—my color selection is very similar to both and I do take inspiration from both of them for sure. My compositions are also a bit similar to Kaws in the way they have a sort of organized chaos to them. I think the main difference is that Kaws is pulling from pop culture and cartoons, while I’m pulling from my own imagery.
Who or what is your biggest influence? If I was to pick one artist that has continually inspired me since I was younger I would have to say Keith Haring for sure. Do you have a mantra in life or an overriding philosophy? I try not to think about that too much, just here to enjoy the short time that I’m on this planet and hope I can bring some color to the world and inspire people. You can often be found high up on a building painting a mural. Are you naturally a daredevil? Haha, I would say more of a thrill-seeker. That’s part of why I was drawn to graffiti in the first place. Climbing high up on buildings to paint and getting chased by the cops. Painting in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep. Working on very large scale stuff is relatively new to me. The last one I did was 70 ft tall. That was definitely a huge challenge but now it seems relatively easy to me. It really depends on the building but it is essentially just a grid system to start and then you really have to forget that you are that high up on the air and just pay attention to what is right in front of. Tune out your surroundings while being very conscious of them at the same time so you are safe. What are the challenges working on this scale? I would say the biggest challenge is not being able to step back and look at what you’re painting. When you’re up on a boom lift that high in the air you have to go all the way back down to the ground level and sometimes even walk up the block to make sure the proportions are correct and everything matches up. But that being said the sketch is the most important part. Once your sketch is laid out on the wall its really just paint by numbers at that point.
Tell us which artists inspire you, as well as those you can call your favorite artists? To start, definitely Philip Guston, Keith Haring, and Peter Saul. Favorite artists also include Frank Stella, De Kooning, John Chamberlain, Yayoi Kusama, Kerry James Marshal, Richard Serra, Charline Von Heyl, Alice Neel, Chuck Close, Hilma Af Klint, Stuart Davis, James Rosenquist, Matisse, Basquiat. We love your brand collaboration with Coach. How was that creative process? The process for that was actually pretty seamless. They have a template and I used some images from paintings I had made to work on the design and then superimposed their pattern on certain sections of the shoe. What are some of the projects you envision working on in the future? More brand collabs and bigger walls! I would also love to start working more large-scale in the studio but bigger paintings are a lot harder to sell and most people don’t have space for them. How do you spend your free time? Freetime? What is that?? Hahaha, I would say I spend my free time painting but I guess now that is mostly my job. When I actually have free time I like to spend time with friends and other people/artists who inspire me. Museums and galleries for sure and I ride my bike around the city a lot. Tell us something that most people don’t know about you. I am color blind. Any final bits of advice to other young artists? Work hard, be humble and stay true to yourself!
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