Erik Foss

Erik Foss (born 1973) is an American artist and curator based in New York City. His paintings incorporate autobiographical themes, American iconography, and pop culture, painted with airbrush in neon palettes. He has exhibited at the American Academy of Arts and Letters and Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, and his work has been covered in Artforum and The New York Times. In the early 2000s, he co-founded the bar Lit Lounge and its adjoining art gallery, Fuse. He grew up skateboarding in a trailer park. He began drawing in childhood, influenced by cartoons. His father was a toy designer who worked on He-Man figures.

In 1994, Foss witnessed a homicide committed by a police officer. He testified in court and appeared on television about the case; the officer received a life sentence. This event prompted his move to New York City in 1996. The bar attracted a downtown crowd that included Chloë Sevigny, Harmony Korine, and The Strokes. Foss has collaborated with Supreme During the COVID-19 pandemic, he launched his "Cobra" series through Instagram Live sessions. In 2023, he had a solo exhibition at artist Takashi Murakami's Tokyo gallery Kaikai Kiki.

Art critic Carlo McCormick connects Foss's work to American cultural identity and class, writing that Foss draws from "that lowbrow mix of hot rods, punk rock and skateboard graphics, black light posters, gang graffiti, lowriders and tattoos endemic to American youth of the post-war era." McCormick contrasts Foss's approach with traditional American desert painters like Georgia O'Keeffe and Frederic Remington, describing Foss's landscapes as "the desert you find airbrushed on the sides of vans, a wily picturesque that has nothing to do with beauty." Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Padre Gallery, NYC, 2020 Serpents & Rainbows, New Image Art, Los Angeles, 2021

Group Shred, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, 2010 American Two Shot, New York, 2012 In Bloom, Quin Hotel, New York, 2018 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, 2012 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, 2020

Curated Draw, Museo de la Ciudad, Mexico City, 2010 Nose Bleed, Fuse Gallery, NYC, 2012

Publications

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