ERICA EYRES

The Rusty Toque | Issue 8 | Visual Art | June 30,  2015
Picture
G. Graphite on Paper. 11 x 11 inches.
2015
Image Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Kehler Art + Projects
Picture
Bowling. Graphite on Paper, 11.5 x 17 inches.
2015
Image Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Kehler Art + Projects
Picture
Ann. Graphite on Paper, 11.5 x 17 inches.
2015
Image Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Kehler Art + Projects
Picture
Jane. Graphite on Paper, 11.5 x 17 inches.
2015
Image Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Kehler Art + Projects
Picture
Mike. Graphite on Paper, 11.5 x 17 inches.
2015
Image Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Kehler Art + Projects
Picture
Mr. S. Graphite on Paper, 11.5 x 17 inches.
2015
Image Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Kehler Art + Projects
Picture
Shopping for Shoes. Graphite on Paper, 11.5 x 17 inches.
2015
Image Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Kehler Art + Projects
Picture
Stella. Graphite on Paper, 11.5 x 17 inches.
2015
Image Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Kehler Art + Projects
Picture
Swimmers. Graphite on Paper, 11.5 x 17 inches.
2015
Image Courtesy of the artist and Lisa Kehler Art + Projects

DESCRIPTION OF WORK

I began this series of drawings while working on a zine with a friend. I borrowed a collection of old porn magazines from someone, and quickly became addicted to the 'Reader's Wives' section in one called *Fiesta* magazine. During the 1970s, *Fiesta* asked readers to submit pictures of their wives and girlfriends, establishing a concept that was later adopted by other soft porn and lad magazines. Also featured, was a section called "One For The Ladies", or "Reader's Own", that showed images of nude men. As the photos are pre-digital, they have a distinct awkwardness, but simultaneously lack the self-conscious, staged quality of the modern "selfie". The immediacy of digital photography allows you to take pictures of yourself with your phone, to practice in the mirrored camera, and to repeatedly delete until you get the right one. These images offer a more complicated narrative in which you imagine the situation that the photograph was taken in; you wonder about the other person who is taking the photo, what their relationship is to the model, and their motive for mailing it in. Some of the more recent drawings are taken from a nudist magazine called H & E (Health and Efficiency). The images are never offensive or pornographic, just depicting people who engage in mundane activities whilst being naked.

ERICA EYRES (born in Winnipeg, Canada 1980) lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. Eyres graduated with a MFA from Glasgow School of Art in 2004. She has had solo exhibitions at The Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow and the Kunsthaus, Erfurt, with selected group exhibitions including PS1, New York, Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, The Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland, and The Collective, Edinburgh. Her work is in international collections including The Rubell Family Collection, Miami and The David Roberts Collection, London.

Upcoming shows include a solo exhibition*, Holidays In The Future*, at Lisa Kehler Art + Projects, September 2015.

 Website: http://www.ericaeyres.com