Erin Currier

My artistic practice has taken me on a lifelong “shoestring” adventure—packed with action and magic—that has variously found me training in Beijing with Kung Fu masters; tango dancing in Buenos Aires; in riots in Chile; eating dinner on dirt floors with Tibetan exiles in Nepal and at the dinner tables of famed filmmakers in Italy; on the couches of Panthers and Weather Underground; in medicinal ceremonies in the Amazonian jungle; at Tahrir Square with a million Egyptians... I am a humanist artist: unapologetically narrative, and for whom art and the social world are inseparable. I use the proceeds of the sales of my art to witness the world firsthand—i.e.-when I sell a painting, I buy a plane ticket and go!

It all began with a natural integration of my sociopolitical beliefs with a sheer joy of art-making, and has since developed into an artistic praxis by which I integrate the human realm- its individuals, cultures, and struggles- with its refuse, in order to address the issues I feel most passionate about. I have been to more than 50 countries, immersing myself, to the best of my abilities, in the daily life of countries like Nepal and Nicaragua, cities such as Istanbul and Caracas, studying languages, getting around on foot or by bus, sketching, making friends, and collecting disinherited commercial “waste”. Inevitably I return to my studio in Santa Fe, NM, to create series of works that are exhibited and collected internationally.

-Erin Currier

Artist Statement

What compels my artistic practice is the desire to convey that which I have found to be true in all of the countries I have traveled to: that our commonalities as human beings far outweigh our differences.  Divisions are often either superficial or artificially created based on racial, economic, and national ideologies.  Where we are similar is of a more profound metaphysical caliber: the bond between brothers, the love between mother and child, the kinship shared through creative endeavors; these run like threads in the great fabric of generations. 

 The reasons behind my use of recycled material are multilayered. First, I believe that artists have always used materials close-at-hand. I use what is most readily available to my era—waste from our globalized consumer culture.

Secondly, my use of trash is a spiritual practice in the sense that it is re-transfigured into something of beauty.

Finally, using post-consumer waste is a socio-political act: it is both a form of recycling, and it expresses our interconnectedness and commonalities as human beings—in what we value, share, consume, and cast away.

Erin Currier 2019

Artist Resume 

Born:  1975, Haverhill, MA 

Home:  Santa Fe, NM 

Education:  College of Santa Fe, BFA Theatre Design (magna cum laude) 
 
Selected Solo Exhibitions: 

2018: “Las Meninas,” Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

2018: “La Frontera,” Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM 

2017: “La Frontera,” University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ 

2017: “Fight Like a Girl,” Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 2016: “Rogues and Reinas,” Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

2016: “Song of the West,” Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, NM 

2015: “The Orchard Keepers,” Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

2014: “From Taos to Laos,” Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

2013: “From Paris to Phnom Penh,” Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

2013: “Soldiers, Saints, and Psychos,” Kohi Kulturaum, Karlsruhe, Germany 

2012: “From California to Cairo,” Hamilton Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 

2011: “Seven Miles Per Second,” Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

2010: “Friendly Skies,” Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

2010: “Journalistas Unembedded,” Parks Gallery, Taos, NM 

2009: “Schoolyards,” Parks Gallery, Taos, NM 

2009: “Schoolgirls and Schoolboys” Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM 

2009: “Portenas,” Masottatorres Contemporanea, Buenos Aires, Argentina 

2008: “Miss World,” Parks Gallery, Taos, NM 2007: “America Below,” Parks Gallery, Taos, NM 

2007: “In Solidarity,” Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Embassy, Washington D.C. 

2006: “From Vietnam to Venezuela, Bandits and Beauty Queens,” Parks Gallery, Taos 

2005: “Mothers and Martyrs,” Parks Gallery, Taos, NM 

2005: “Small Works,” Parks Gallery, Taos, NM 

2004: “The Other America,” Parks Gallery, Taos, NM 

2004: “Selected Works,” TOPS Gallery, Malibu, CA 

2003: “Liberation Series,” College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM 

2003: “Liberation Series,” Parks Gallery, Taos, NM 

 
Selected Group Exhibitions: 

2018 -2020: "Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms," The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI; The George Washington University Museum, &The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX;  Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA 

2018-2019: “Because It's Time: Unraveling Race & Place in New Mexico,” National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque, NM 

2018-2019: Without Borders/Arte Sin Fronteras, El Pueblo History Museum, Pueblo, CO 

2013-2019: LA Art Show, Los Angeles, CA 

2018: “Revolution,” Kohi Kulturaum, Karlsruhe, Germany 

2016: “Modernist Intersections: The Tia Collection,” University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tuscon, AZ 

2016: “The Legacy of Fred Harvey in New Mexico,” Santa Fe Community Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

2016: “Fahrenheit 451,” Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK

2015: “Song of the West,” Kohi Kulturaum, Karlsruhe, Germany 

2015: “Lollipop Guild Invitational,” Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK 

2014: “Uncharted Territory,” Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, NM 

2013: “Fine Folk of New Mexico,” Santa Fe Community Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

2013-15 “LA Art Show,” Los Angeles County Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA 

2012: “Finite Passing of an Infinite Passion,” SCA Contemporary, Albuquerque, NM 

2011: “100 Years of Women Rockin’ the World,” Artrage Gallery, Syracuse, NY 

2011:  “18 Days,” Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM 

2010: “TWO,” Rooftops, Berlin, DE 2009: “Vision Shift,” Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM 

2009:  Arte BA, Buenos Aires, Argentina 

2009: “Salvo,” Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

2007-11: Masottatorres Contemporanea, Buenos Aires, Argentina 

2008: “FOCA Show,” Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM 

2007-08: “Originals,” National Museum of Women in the Arts, Harwood Museum, NM 

2007: “Lifting the Veil: New Mexico Women and the Tricultural Myth,” Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, NM 

2005-08: MJ Higgins Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 

2005: “Heroes,” Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM 

2005: “La Madre Poderosa,” Harwood Museum, Taos, NM 

2003: “FOCA Exhibition,” Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM 

1999-2006 Tops Gallery, Malibu, CA 

 
Selected Books and Publications: 

Last Sketches, Erin Currier, CSF Publishing 2017 

Carnet d’Amerika, Erin Currier, CSF Publishing 2016 

Carnet d’Asie, Erin Currier, CSF Publishing 2013 

The Paintings of Erin Currier, CSF Publishing 2012 

Modernist Intersections: The Tia Collection, The University of Arizona Press, 2016 

Life in Schools, Peter McLaren, Paradigm Publishers, 2015 

Sketchbook Confidential, North Light Books, 2010 

Women Artists Datebook , Syracuse Cultural Workers, 2016,2013,2012,2010, 2009  

Education, and the Struggle for Liberation, Mustafa Yunus Eryman, Peter McLaren, Hampton, 2009 

100 Artists of the Southwest, Douglas Bullis, Schiffer, 2006 

Pedagogy and Praxis in the Age of Empire, Peter McLaren, Nathalia Jaramillo, Rowman and Littlefield, 2006 

Capitalists and Conquerors, Peter McLaren, Rowman and Littlefield, 2005 

Teaching Against Global Capitalism, Peter McLaren, Rowman and Littlefield, 2005 

Breaking the Chains Magazine, 2017

New Mexico Magazine, 2017 

Western Art & Architecture, 2017 

American Art Collector Magazine 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014 (cover), 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 

Santa Fe New Mexican Pasatiempo 2016, 2015, 2014 (cover), 2012, 2010,2008,2006,2004 

Santa Fe Reporter, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013(cover), 2012, 2006, 2005 

THE Magazine, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2004, 2003, 1999 

Professional Artist Magazine, 2015 Santa Fean, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007, 2004, 2003 

Taos News, 2018 (cover), 2015, 2014 (cover), 2013, 2010, 2009, 2008 (cover), 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 (cover), 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000 (cover) 

Pasticcio, 2014 

Malibu Magazine, 2012, 2005 

Collector’s Guide 2010 Southwest Art, 2010 

Buenos Aires Herald, 2009 

Pagina 12, Argentina, 2009 

Paseante Extranerjero, Argentina, 2009 

Raw Guide, Argentina, 2009 

Welt der Frau Magazine, Austria, 2008 

Washington Post, 2007 

Pacifica Radio, 2007 

Bottom Line, 2006 

Art News, 2004 

Atomica, 2004 

American Style Magazine, 2003 

Utne Reader, 2002 

National Public Radio, 2002, 2000 

New Mexico Magazine, 2002 

Su Casa Magazine, 2001 

Television/Video: PBS Television “Colores”, 2014 

Santa Fe Reporter  

Selected Collections: 

Bernardo Bertolucci 

Sherilynn Bevel 

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela  Embassy, Washington, DC 

Lisa Bonet 

California State University 

President Hugo Chavez 

John Cusack 

Joan Cusack 

Whoopi Goldberg 

Mel Gibson 

Linda Hamilton 

Harwood Museum, Taos, NM 

Dennis Hopper 

Coretta Scott King 

Jeremy Piven 

Julia Roberts 

Mr. & Mrs. Carlos Santana 

Martin Sheen 

State of New Mexico Public Collection, Santa Fe, NM 

Dean Stockwell 

University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tuscon, AZ