Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Bassett.
Erin, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I grew up in Atlanta. My father is a visual artist, and my parents are both pretty weird, which I appreciate. We lived with my grandparents most of growing up. We lived all around downtown but off of Redan road for the longest of anywhere we lived. I spent a lot of time in the woods behind that house, or in the fields and hills behind my aunt’s house in rural Tennessee. I have lived in a bus parked in the front yard of a mansion, a retired weed grow house with a secret door, and I recently moved back to Atlanta from living in a two-room cabin in the woods for three years.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I assume I have always made some kind of art. Maybe there is graffiti inside my mother’s womb. Creativity is a natural mechanism for me to process empathetic and sensory information. Recently, I am focusing on painting, drawing, sculpture, and zines. I have been working for a long time to develop a visual language to describe experiences without concrete boundaries: feelings, memories, attractions, sensations, intuition, dreams, love, violence, fear, empathy, ideas, history, and power, just to name a few examples. My current work attempts to describe these intangible forces present always in our day to day, a cacophonous undercurrent to even the most mundane activities. I hope to infuse my visual expressions with the perspective of poet or dancer, using metaphor, rhythm, and body relationships as potent forms of language.
What responsibility, if any, do you think artists have to use their art to help alleviate problems faced by others? Has your art been affected by issues you’ve concerned about?
I am often attracted to dark, fierce, or violent imagery as a way of coping with the presence of dark and violent forces both in nature and in humanity specifically. These forces are beyond time. Methods for cultivating balance and promoting wisdom and knowledge are always on my mind.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Currently, the best place to view my work is on Instagram @udacide_ or my website at www.erinbassett.info. I will be participating in an abstract group show at Facet Gallery on November 10th, 2018.
Contact Info:
Website: www.erinbassett.info
Email: erinbassett@gmail.com
Instagram: @udacide_
Image Credit:
photos of “cartouche’ (bulldog) and ‘ascension’ (grandfather) paintings by john paul floyd. All other photos by the artist.
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
