Erik den Breejen

Erik den Breejen’s paintings fuse elaborate color systems with imagery, patterns, and text. Formal rigor and idiosyncrasy are valued in equal measure. Inspired by natural phenomena, the pictures seek to realize in paint the intensity of experiences found in any given moment rather than attempt to represent or depict nature. Sometimes labeled psychedelic, the work is in fact the result of observation, imagination, and living in reality with open sensory organs. Born in Berkeley, CA, Den Breejen is a painter, writer, educator, and occasional musician. He received his MFA from Cornell University and his BFA from the California College of the Arts. His work was the subject of five solo exhibitions at Freight + Volume gallery, New York, and is collected internationally. Group exhibitions include Miles McEnery, Turn, Mindy Solomon, Ampersand, Underdonk, and many others. Den Breejen’s large-scale public works include commissions for SoFi Stadium and YouTube Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, Atlantic Records, Public Art for Public Schools, and Rag and Bone in New York. Erik is a 2018 MacDowell Fellow and a 2015 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Painting. His work has been written about in The New York Times, Artnews, Hyperallergic, Artnet, Art Maze, Maake, Whitehot, and more. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

Erik den Breejen artwork
Oscillation 2019 Acrylic on linen 78 x 72 inches