Eric Freeman was an American painter. Freeman was born in 1970 in Brooklyn, New York. He has internationally-exhibited, and was a mid-career artist known for his vibrant visual meditations on light and color. A Bomb Magazine critic once praised Freeman’s works as “Mark Rothko paintings… with the volume turned way up,” and his paintings’ luminous intensity has also earned favorable comparisons to the work of Light and Space artists, such as James Turrell and Dan Flavin. Using oil paint alone, Freeman was able to achieve truly transcendental effects. The artist David Salle has written that Eric Freeman’s paintings “have the luminosity associated with a solar event, the energy of an explosion” but at the same time “a delicacy, a softness… that convinces us to lower our guard.”
b. 1970, Brooklyn, NY
d. 2021, Easthampton, NY
Lived and Worked in New York, NY
EDUCATION
1993 Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, B.F.A. and M.A.
SOLO EXHIBTIONS
2015 New Paintings, Solo Show, Launch F18, New York, US Launch F18, NYC, NY
2013 Tripoli Gallery, Southampton, NY
2012 Western Project, Los Angeles, CA
2010 Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland
2009 Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Alain Noirhomme Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2008 Alain Noirhomme Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2007 Western Project, Culver City, CA
2006 Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland
Alain Noirhomme Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2005 Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY
2004 Western Project, Culver City, CA
2003 Bjorn Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY
Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Glenn Horowitz Booksellers Gallery, East Hampton, NY
2002 Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2001 Stefan Stux Gallery, NYC, NY
2000 Stefan Stux Gallery, NYC, NY
1999 Gallery 56, Budapest, Hungary
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBTIONS
2015 Gray would be the color, if I had a heart., Marc Straus Gallery, New York, NY
2014 Radiate, Circle Culture Gallery, Berlin, Germany VIENNAFAIR, Art Fair, Circle Culture Gallery, Vienna, Austria
ArtInternational Istanbul, Art Fair, Circle Culture Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2012 Thanksgiving Collective 2012: Modern Salon, Tripoli Gallery, Southampton, NY
2011 Thanksgiving Collective, Tripoli Gallery, Southampton, NY
2010 Elements of Nature: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
2009 The First Six Years, Western Project, Culver City, CA
2007 Abstract America, The Saatchi Gallery, London, England
2006 Triumph of Painting, The Saatchi Gallery, London, England
2004 Group Show, Western Project, Culver City, CA
2003 Glenn Horowitz Booksellers, East Hampton, NY
2002 Glenn Horowitz Booksellers, East Hampton, NY
2000 24/7, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY
1997 The Moderns, Feature Gallery, NYC, NY
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY
Mint Museum, Charlotte, SC
Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mason, Brook S., Retro Fit Retro Modern, ART & ANTIQUES, September 2005, pp. 62-69
Myers, Holly, Around the Galleries: Hard to look at, yet absorbing, LOS ANGELES TIMES, 24 December 2004. Leffingwell, Edward, Eric Freeman at Mary Boone, ART IN AMERICA, September 2003, pp. 118-119. Volandes, Stellene, Black Book: Patrick Mc Carthy, DEPARTURES, September 2003, p. 52
Johnson, Ken, Eric Freeman, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 30 May 2003, p. E37
Colacello, Bob, Eric Freeman, INTERVIEW, May 2003, p. 64
Staff, Fanfair: May, VANITY FAIR, May 2003, p. 92
Edelson, Sharon, WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY, 27 January 2003, p. 2
Norwich, William, A.I.R. Rights, THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, 30 June 2002, pp. 43-48