Introduction

Abstract figures in the paintings of Erin Cone

Graceful female figures displayed from the side, back, and front. Sometimes a woman’s tilted head is truncated; sometimes a shoulder disappears from the frame. The rich colors of the figures are muted by a drop of subdued background. Details are painstakingly added and yet have an abstract effect when seen as a whole.

Since her first solo exhibition in a gallery in 2003, the painter Erin Cone from Texas (b. 1976) has been a best kept secret among striving young artists. She has celebrated her success in many solo and group exhibitions in the USA and her work can be found in multiple collections around the world. Critics are fascinated by her unique new interpretations of traditional, figurative painting, and her subtle play with forms of realism. She experiments with dark-light contrasts, limited ranges of color, and the contradictions of true to life representation and graphic stylization.

The methods Erin Cone use to achieve this result are very complex. In seeking her motif, she makes sketches of poses, gestures, and details. These then become the basis for photographs (generally of herself, but sometimes of models as well). The final search for composition occurs intuitively. Through experimentation, Erin Cone finds the right combination of individual elements. “It’s more about the visual effect than the story content, that’s why I concentrate on the subtle placement of the subjects within the frame,” said  Erin Cone, describing her experiences. “I intentionally create a tension between near photographic detail and my own vocabulary of visual disturbance, subverting realism. This duality is central to my work and allows the figures I paint to be both concrete and abstract – calling forth emotion without pinning the emotion down.”

Once the composition has been determined, Cone otherwise continues very traditionally: sketches on the canvas, filled with layers of color, in some cases allowing for changes during the painting process. The result is such impressive pictures as Allure, the abstract-realist portrait/non-portrait of a young woman in a red dress: a formally elegant equilibrium of rigidity and tense movement; a successful mélange of abstract minimalism and figurative realism.

Geraldine Blum

Bio

1976	Born in Lubbock, Texas, USA
1998	Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting, University of Texas, Austin, Texas
	Lives and works in Santa Fe, USA

Collections

	Department of Cultural Affairs/New Mexico Arts Permanent Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico
	Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Washington, D.C.
	The Tullman Collection, Chicago, Illinois
	Standard Chartered Bank, London, UK

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2020	Time & Tide, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2018	Boundless, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2017	Stages of Believing, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2016	Wish Fulfillment, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2015	Ineffable, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2015	Emergence, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2014	Modiste, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA
2013	Desiderata, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA
2012	Theory of Forms, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA
2012	Ingenue, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco USA
2011	Denouement, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA
2010	Passages, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2009	Blessed Unrest, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA
2008	Possible Outcomes, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco,USA
2008	Departure, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, USA
2007	Synchronicity, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, USA
2006	Secrets, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2005	3, Andreeva Gallery, Santa Fe, USA
2005	Erin Cone: 5th Annual Show, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, USA
2004	Transformation, Seven-o-seven Contemporary, Santa Fe, USA
2004	Interval, Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, USA
2003	Configuration, Seven-o-seven Contemporary, Santa Fe, USA

Group Exhibitions

2021	Caesura, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2019	Figurations 2019, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexiko, USA
2018	New New Real II, Tinney Contemporary, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
2013	20th Anniversary Exhibition, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2012	Distilled Memory, Decorazon Gallery, London, UK
2011	In Portrait, Blank Space Gallery, New York City, USA
2010	Gallery Artists, Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton, USA
2009	Artist’s Choice, Principle Gallery, Alexandria, USA
2008	Inaugural Exhibit, MMFA, Palm Desert, USA
2007	9th Annual Realism Invitational, Jenkins-Johnson Gallery, New York City, USA
2006	Small Works, Principle Gallery, Alexandria, USA
2005	Self Portraits by Contemporary Masters, Andreeva Gallery, Santa Fe, USA