Today we’d like to introduce you to Erik Ringman
Hi Erik, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It’s always a circular path up the mountain. I’d been a creative type forever, yet never had access to personal expression – life was a game of acting and appeasement. That said, I spent tonnes of time as a kid with my dad in museums and galleries, gaining a similar respect as his for originality and artists. Knowing how things work is fascinating and makes me feel valuable, so I went to school for mechanical engineering and eventually engineering physics. Endless hours playing with Legos bridged creativity and engineering for me, the same way endeavours like architecture do. I’d found neon vivacious and captivating since childhood and came across a renowned neon artist by quite literally dumb luck. She was giving a class so I enrolled immediately, and the piece I produced there was the first actually good art I ever made. In the wake of my father’s death in late 2019, I was looking for a new direction and got my studio where I kept pursuing neon. The other artists there became family like I’d never known before and we have worked together, expanding each other’s styles in a dance that’s incomplete without each other.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My art practice has been smooth sailing, it’s the decades leading up to it that were hard and circuitous. Lots of kids who are denied a voice of their own get drawn into art: it’s a context where honesty, rawness, being weird, being funky are all acceptable. And you can do all that without feeling like you’re sticking your neck out, because the work is doing so in your stead. But after having my work received well, I slowly started to build calmness, confidence, and comfort in other areas of life. Doing art was the access portal to gain those qualities as a total man. I slowly was able to be honest, raw, weird, and funky myself. It’s allowed me to loosen up and relax as a person, far from that scared little kid constantly looking over his shoulder and trying to appease.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Neon & humor have been the most identifiable characteristics of my work. I prefer to avoid words and leverage iconic symbology instead, that way the work can land for anyone regardless of language. There’s direct transmission of an idea, instead of me condescending the idea into language for you to then interpret back up from language into an idea in your head. Less steps. There’s often satire to my work. Comedians know that every joke has truth somewhere inside it, there must be for it to work. Some people only get my jokes, some people get the sincerity that’s lower down too. I consider both a success. It’s designed so that both fools & sages will be happy customers. Neon is crackling with life; it’s uncommon and eye-catching; it’s crisp and beautiful. It hearkens to a time when we made better quality products than we do now, partly by being one itself. Being able to do the aesthetic design as well as the mechanical & electrical design allows me to fuse the two integrally, instead of having to negotiate that communication with someone else and possibly losing something in translation.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Ha ha, the very act of living is to continually refine your answer to this question. I don’t want ever to be rigid here and think I know “the” answer, but always be fluxxing. But let me attempt a summation: there’re systems (how you do things) and goals (specific achievables). Have goals, but be focused on systems, which is to say let desire be your guide but let the way you are living, regardless of if you’ve achieved your goals or not, be your rubric for success. If you want to be fit and you’re presently fat, as long as you’re continually making choices that enhance your fitness then you are successful. Success is about doing, not having.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.eriktclayton.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erik.t.clayton
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070375174083
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@erikt.clayton4398
Image Credits
John Rinek
