I have been painting and drawing my whole life, but it's been about 8 or 9 years that I have been focusing on the themes that appear most often in my work. I found myself attracted to objects and scenes like these after driving around upstate NY for years, and walking or biking around New York City. And now in Beacon, where I have lived for over three years, I continue to feel the connection between myself and this history-rich once-industrial city-town nestled between the river and the mountain, its steady integration of old and new having drawn me from the city. I was familiarizing myself with Beacon around the same time I was considering the anachronistic nature of my work, and of myself even. The word 'anachronism' comes from the Greek words for "backwards" and "time", and as I was reconciling my mysterious sense of nostalgia with the inescapable fact of living in the present, it instinctively felt like a good match.

I hold a long list in my head of artists I admire, but realized I was especially drawn to those mostly unpeopled environments- but with the obvious presence of people- captured by Hopper, Thiebaud, Morandi, Ruscha, Sheeler, Eggleston, Burckhardt- their way of framing a scene and much of their chosen subject matter resonates with me. They painted or photographed ordinary things of their era, their own particular places in time-- I must seek mine out in various pockets of my modern landscape, so when I come across an old sign or car, it means something different. I find an aesthetic appeal in the faded colors and forms, the textures of rusted metal or peeling paint or a sun-bleached facade, plus an earnestness of expression in text or design that I appreciate as a contrast to today's overtly slick aggression.

I often work from photographs that I take myself, from several angles to explore different perspectives, to inform how I might later want to frame the composition. I may take detail shots to jolt my memory of color and surface or font. Then I make sketches in my studio and consider how it will fit on a canvas, if I haven't already figured it out on site. I am not the first one to want to paint these objects and scenes, but every observation has its story for me. And these can be taken literally or emotionally, depending on who you are and your own history. I think the work itself is not particularly sentimental in its execution, which is how it can be seen as straightforward representation, but with the room to allow for narrative and context. Thiebaud painted cakes and gumball machines with obvious appreciation for their sensuous color and light, the formality in their arrangement. His work may embody American abundance, among other things, but it's the lush surfaces that coax the eye. This is a bit of what I'm after. Sometimes everything is flat and graphic in my painting, more about the line, or the subject, or the color of the sky. The painters I like vary in their application and treatment of paint, and so do I, in my layering, slathering and scumbling.

I feel like when I'm painting an old soda logo, I'm wistfully imagining walking into a classic dusty roadside store on a hot afternoon, digging into a cooler and pulling out the dripping bottle. I like words that evoke images and sensations without a lot of fuss and manipulation. Old structures have that history: gas pumps, the fading hotel sign, the little red lighthouse, and by painting I realized I was trying to slow things down for myself and for anyone who cared to look. Sometimes it has a more personal bent, as when I painted from a photo my dad had taken of his '56 Thunderbird in front of the house he'd just built back in 1960, a small snapshot I'd found on his desk. The painting still elicits a flood of reminiscence when he looks at it, and it takes on greater meaning than whatever I'd imbued it with in my own observation; similar things happen when I show my work, in that people seem to connect, in the moment that they're looking.

Erica Hauser is a 2002 graduate of the School of Visual Arts in NYC with a BFA in Illustration. She also studied at Cornell University and the Art Students League of New York. She grew up on a half-dirt road by a reservoir in Brewster, NY and currently lives in Beacon, drawn after 7 years in the city by the Hudson Valley's abundance of natural beauty, creative inspiration and sense of community.

from press releases:

"Erica Hauser’s tightly orchestrated paintings evoke a sense of man’s relationship to water through the aged and often historic architectural elements she depicts. Through the use of simple strokes and stark detail, Hauser captures the complexities of surfaces and patinas to create the sense of realism and give the viewer an active sense of participation within her scenes."

"Erica Hauser’s work is indelibly linked to travel in its various forms... [Her] precise handling of paint faithfully represents these textures and effects of light without overstating the subjects’ nostalgic associations. Her antiquarian imagery registers as consistently cool, tempered as it is by her documentarian’s sense of objectivity, and graciously allows the viewer to time-travel and fill in the backstory."

solo exhibitions:

2008: Paint Job, Go North Gallery, Beacon, NY
2008, 2007: Doma Cafe & Gallery, NYC
2005: High Road Cafe, NYC

selected group exhibitions:

2010
New York Moments, George Billis Gallery, NYC (opens July 8, 2010)
July Showcase, Charmingwall Gallery, NYC (opens July 2, 2010)
The Big Draw, Beacon, NY
Water, Water Every Where, Beacon Institute for Rivers & Estuaries, Beacon, NY (through Oct 3, 2010)
(in)Case, (R)evolution Art Studio, Syracuse, NY
BAU 62 Local, b.a.u., Beacon, NY
February, May Showcases, Charmingwall Gallery, NYC

2009
Art Along The Hudson, Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center, Poughkeepsie, NY
BAU 52 Line, b.a.u., Beacon, NY
Cars, Trucks and Planes, Riverwinds, Beacon, NY
32nd Small Works, Washington Square East Galleries, NYC

2008
122 for $122, PS 122, NYC
Holiday Small Works, G.A.S., Poughkeepsie, NY
The Girl Show and Tote Bag, Open Space, Beacon, NY
On the Road Mt. Beacon Fine Art, Beacon, NY
Home Green Home, Ithaca, NY

2007
Out of Line, Go North Gallery, Beacon, NY
Interpreting Beacon, Chthonic Clash, Beacon, NY

2002-2006
Small Matters of Great Importance, Edward Hopper House, Nyack, NY
6th & 7th Annual Inn Artists, Southampton, NY
29th Small Works, Washington Sq. East Gallery, New York, NY
Viewpoints, N. Westchester Center for the Arts, Mt Kisco, NY. Juror: Susan Cross

projects/other:

2010, 2009
Beacon Open Studios (Sept 25-26, 2010)

2010
Mill Street Loft Juried Art Auction, Poughkeepsie, NY
P.P. Mid-Hudson Valley Art Auction, Warwick, NY

2010, 2008
Beekman St Banner Project, Beacon, NY

2008, 2007
Windows on Main St, Beacon, NY

2007
June/July, Oct/Nov covers for the Valley Table magazine

2002-ongoing
Murals, signs, illustrations for individual clients

For information about purchasing or exhibiting a work, or commissions, please email the artist. Many works are also available as economically priced digital prints, and 'Beacon Dummy Light' is also available as a t-shirt. Inquiries are welcome.

Please do not use images without permission. Thank you.