Today we’d like to introduce you to Erik Abel.
Hi Erik, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an artist. There never seemed to be another option. Art has been a part of my life from the very beginning. Art is my purpose.
I painted and drew heavily throughout childhood and high school, illustrated a children’s book when I was 16, and started my own commercial mural business in 11th grade. At 18, I started airbrushing surfboards at Roberts, Surfboards in Ventura. Around age 19, a friend pushed me to learn the Adobe programs and would give me pirated copies of Illustrator and Photoshop so I could create snowboard designs for his company. The first iMac hadn’t even come out yet. I was just a surf/snowboard bum living the dream.
Learning how to do graphic design and use these programs opened the door to so many opportunities throughout my career. Fresh out of college, It allowed me to earn a living being creative and get used to working with clients on commercial design projects. Currently, it allows me to apply my art to so many different products and applications, and really lets me increase my range and opportunities as an artist.
My art career has had a pretty good run for the last 20 years or so. It really took off in about 2008, when I tapped back into my surfer roots and started focusing on ocean inspired art and tapped into the surf/skate/snowboard industry. Hundreds of original paintings, and thousands of prints continue to sell to collectors around the world. I’ve done artist collabs or projects for the major companies in the industry; art for the WSL and the largest surf contests in the world, artist series skateboards with Sector 9, projects with leading brands like Rip Curl, Reef and Billabong, REI and Patagonia. I’ve also gotten to use my art to bring awareness and raise funds for several ocean related environmental orgs like Surfrider Foundation, Heal The Bay and Save The Waves.
Right now, my art, and myself, are going through a big transitional phase. As successful as my work has been, as an artist, I need to continue growing and push beyond my boundaries, and pursue all that inspires me. There is so much more to explore.
This new phase of work is for the dreamers. The ones who are never satisfied, who never stop learning, and who refuse to settle for less than they know they are capable of. My work is for those who find wonder in the cosmos, nature, form, and pattern. It is for the collectors who celebrate artists with range, unafraid to dance with all their muses.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Sustaining yourself for 25 years as a professional artist and designer is not an easy task. I consider myself lucky to have all the opportunities I’ve had, but the stress of being a solo entrepreneur for so long has definitely taken its toll on me over the years. I’m tired of being in the business of slinging my own art. It’s a strange thing to market such a personal product, something that came out of your soul.
My biggest struggle lately has been figuring out how to push into completely new creative territory while still making income from it. I feel like I’m starting all over again, having to find a whole new collector base for this new work.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m an artist through and through. I paint, draw, make sculptures, write, and design things for big companies. My popular work is graphic, stylized, geometric ocean scenes with perfect waves as well as animals like bears, elk, and birds. Recently, I’ve moved on to a more abstract realm, focusing on color and form around subjects like neurology, psychedelics, the cosmos, pattern, mathematics and life/death.
I’m pretty proud of the artwork I created for the World Surf League’s Championship Tour event in 2022, as well as the Reef Hawaiian Pro events in 2011 and 2014. The art for those was larger than life and were big stepping stones for my career. Two more proud projects were the full-store murals I designed for New Seasons Market’s Palisades and Mountain Park locations in Lake Oswego.
I think what sets my art apart is a unique style and how it can be molded to fit a variety of applications from fine art to large commercial projects.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
My work can be found in galleries and shops around the country or on my website at abelarts.com. There are almost 100 different top-quality art prints available on my website from small paper prints to large, framed canvas prints. Available originals are also available through my website.
I’m also available for commercial projects or licensing.
For more info head to abelarts.com or follow me on Instagram at @abelarts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://abelarts.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/abelarts
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/abelarts
