Eric Cronin is one of the rare few that has managed to create a career around his lifelong interests.? I joined Eric at his garage and studio where he works on bikes, talks shop with fellow motorcycle enthusiasts that share the space and creates the art that has been inspired by growing up around similar garages.
Entrance to Eric?s studio and garage
Kate: What comes first, art or bikes?
Eric: I would say bikes come first.? I have been doing bicycles since I was little, 6 or 7, and motorized since I was 12.
Currently I ride with a group of guys called The Hog Ridin Fools.? It?s a motorcycle club/ t-shirt group.? Club is a sensitive word because we?re not like a motorcycle gang.? They are a t-shirt club from the 70?s that has been around for a long time.? I am the second youngest guy in the group.
Kate: Did your love of motorcycles inspire your art?
Eric: My family, grandfather and uncle, were stock car drivers.? My grandfather in the 50?s and 60?s and my uncle in the 70?s, and he was unfortunately killed while racing cars.? It?s been in my blood, the stories and his shop when I was really young and it was still around.? I have been fascinated with signs because he had a huge automotive sign collection within his shop.? It made me fascinated with signage, type and old ads and stuff.? That kind of got me interested in design and fine art outside of that.
Kate: In what ways did your uncle?s shop get you inspired?
Eric: He had this big steal door and one side, the inside, was covered in stickers, hot rod stickers and automotive stickers.? I never got a chance to photograph it, but I remember I would just look at every single sticker from the top down.? Guys that have garages tend to collect tons of different magazine articles and pinup girl artwork. I have always been fascinated with their collections. The collage work that I have been doing recently has been inspired by all of that.
Kate: What do these collections mean to the owners, and what meaning are you transferring onto your own artwork?
Eric: I think most guys collect the stuff just to look back and smile at the moments they had when they found it on the ground, or a supplier at a show after they?ve seen a band or going out on their bike and collecting a flyer from a bar.? Its just memorabilia, a man?s scrapbook you nail to the wall.
Kate: A visual history almost.
Eric: Right, right. The road trips and adventures you?ve been on.? I kind of want to recreate that.? Its not supposed to represent what anyone has done, including myself, although there are many things included in my artwork that are a part of me.? I don?t really talk about them that much; they are hidden and are kind of discovery elements. It might always be behind a piece of artwork or another piece of photography within the art that no one will see unless they take it apart.? There is a lot of me in the artwork, it?s just more of interpretation as things start to evolve graphically, and trying to bring out the right words that are also appropriate to the piece itself.
Kate: Since so much of your stuff is rooted in your childhood and your past, where do you find the inspiration to move onward and create new things?
Eric: I have a collection here that?s from a friend of mine that recently passed about a year ago, he was in his late 50?s and he had probably the best scrapbook collection. Most of its from the 70?s and 80?s chopper days.? I think I am going to start collecting more of these elements from the past and try to give it a retro feel as I move forward.? It?s a good question because I don?t really know what I?m doing half the time I?m making the artwork.? It kind of makes itself and I close my eyes and figure it out as it goes along.? It?s a puzzle.? I just have to know when to stop.
Kate: How do you usually know when to stop?
Eric: You just know.? You just have that moment where it just needs one more little touch and its time to put your name on it.? There is a process where I seal the artwork and try to keep it so it?s protected.? There are many times where I stop and think while it dries then get back into it and keep going and going until I finally know when to just step back.
Leather and darts
Kate: How separate do you keep your art persona and your bikes/cars/garages persona? Or are they kind of more intertwined?
Eric: I think they are more intertwined, especially being in this space.? In this space they are directly connected.? There are times when I am working on my bike or hanging out with the guys, but then there are those times when no one is around that I will close the doors and just work on art.? I am always stopping in between and thinking about bike projects and stuff like that.? But I think they are directly connected to each other.
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Come see a few pieces by Eric and dozens of others at Black Cloud?s Art Bazaar?s opening this Friday.? All included pieces sit salon-style on our walls and each don a price tag of only $200.
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