ERIN L. ERSKINE

ARTIST STATEMENT

Erin L. Erskine

Erin Erskine’s work is about the impermanence of life and the fragility of the human body, using imagery of skeletons, bones, crows, coffins, and flowers to confront her own mortality. Although she looks unflinchingly at the grim end of life, there is nothing dull or gray about these pieces. Erin experiments and plays with combining disparate materials such as hair and steel, paint and saran wrap, and mirrors and grout. Her work “Preservation” -- a constructed steel rib cage covered in fake blonde hair -- is an investigation of bone, decay, and the unraveling of the human anatomy that explores the tactile nature of the body. She uses bright watercolors to depict a series of skulls, creating tension between almost cheerful color and a macabre subject. Erskine sees the skulls as a friendly reminder that the next day isn’t promised and showing the necessity of seizing happiness and the opportunities to make life fulfilling.     

Erskine’s work speaks to the idea that life can end at any moment, that a life well-lived is, in itself, a beautiful thing.  Her work reflects the experiences and feelings of a full life: the good, and the bad.