The most distinctive signature that I know belongs to E.Rock Koenig -Erock- a Bay Area artist. He's been called Erock for so long, I can't remember exactly his real first name. Eric, maybe. Well, Erock is having a show, so we get to see a lot of his signatures right now.
Sacred Rose Tattoo in Berkeley is the venue for Erock's art show, which runs to the end of May.
The Sacred Rose is a pleasant elevation, by the way. Easygoing, relaxed. The gallery is the lobby of the shop, and the Sacred Rose tattoo operation is right behind it. If you listen to the conversations at Sacred Rose, you can learn a bit about tattoos.
While photographing the paintings, I heard them gently turn down work. A young man showed them a drawing he wanted to see on his body. The advice they gave him: reconsider. As his body changed through his life, that particular tattoo was going to deviate a lot from his original pure design. I didn't see the full design on the page, it seemed to be a picture of the DNA molecule. Or maybe a Slinky. Speaking of DNA, that's me in the window.
Sweet images don't appeal to Erock here. His art is edgy, and while some people don't care for images with claws and blood and bullet holes, they have a place in art.
Many of his paintings could be glimpses into other dimensions -the astral plane, for example- or even other worlds. We see these worlds in dreams and motion pictures, for example, and read about them in novels. They may be alien and even threatening, but we've only just met the creatures in Erock's universe. Yoda wasn't cute and cuddly the first time we saw him, either, and not the second time or the last time. If we had claws, we might look at a painting and think we had something in common with the creature.
Creatures in art often serve as symbols for humans and their own qualities. Just look at classic myths and children's books. The strange creatures are us in a different form.
I like Erock's paintings the more I see them.
Moving clockwise, here are the big pictures of Erock's pictures.
The man with wings is Daedalus (After The Fall Of Icarus).
And here's a vertical triptych, Yggdrasil At Ragnarok.
On top is Manifest Destiny. Not long after taking this photo, I met the owner of a car with the license plate Manifest, spelled with MNIFEST. Nice coincidence. The man's name? Eric, better coincidence. It was destiny!
One of my favorites of the show, Sons Of Triton. Erock is skilled at creating several images in a shared space, so the eye shifts from one meaning to another.
Erock's show is running at Sacred Rose through May. It's located at 1728 University above San Pablo Avenue and below Shattuck. Their website.
Erock also has his website, erockarts.com.
Coming Up In Part Two....
How I lost my vision twice at Erock's art show. Not his fault, though.
