Erin Cone was born in Lubbock, Texas in 1976. From an early age, she loved to draw and was soon painting in watercolor and oils. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the University of Texas in 1998 and working briefly in the illustration and design industry, Cone began her professional fine art career at the age of 24, with her first solo show the following year. In 2002, she moved with her husband to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In the past seven years, Cone has had eleven solo shows and has participated in more than a dozen group shows. Her work has been shown from New York to California and is in numerous private and corporate collections throughout the U.S. and Europe. She continues to enjoy critical acclaim for her uniquely bold take on figurative realism.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT:

My paintings merge magical realism with abstract minimalism to create work that is visually bold yet contextually obscure. I paint to convey my fascination with the beauty of the human figure and my appreciation of pure design. Operating within a specific aesthetic framework, where my own intuitive use of color, line and form are paramount, I seek to capture the emotion left behind when context is removed — exploring what is hidden vs. what is revealed — both emotionally and visually.

Remote and unspecific, the figures I paint function almost as design elements themselves, expressing emotions which are cryptic but subtly recognizable. This inherent ambiguity is universal yet open to individual interpretation — based on each viewer’s specific experiences, memories and emotions. In this way, I present a view of humanity in which our singularity and our unity co-exist. The result is a new take on the tradition of portraiture — at once personal and anonymous, emotive and enigmatic.

PRESS:
  • Featured in Art Calendar Magazine, January 2008; Cover artist
  • Reviewed in American Art Collector Magazine, October 2006; Cover artist
  • Reviewed in Marin Magazine, October 2006
  • Featured in Southwest Art Magazine's November 2005 – “Face Time:
         Artist’s Self-portraits”
  • Featured in Art & Antiques Magazine’s Summer 2005-2006 Insider’s Guide
  • Featured in Santa Fean Magazine's June 2005 Special Art Issue as
         one of Santa Fe's "Five Artists to Watch"
  • Featured in Southwest Art Magazine's September 2003 "21 Under 31" -
         as one of the top emerging artists under thirty-one years of age.