ERIC SHAW

Eric Shaw’s art demonstrates painting’s enduring relevance, even in the digital age. His creative process begins with digital sketches made on a smartphone app, which he then transfers to canvas using acrylic paint. His work is characterized by bold colors, flat shapes, and smooth surfaces, resulting in paintings that feel like a modern take on Pop art with a digital twist. Shaw’s use of vibrant, millennial-inspired color combinations and large paint applications creates a fresh interpretation of Pop influences from artists like Roy Lichtenstein and John Wesley — bright, bold, and visually striking.

Self-taught, Shaw has honed his skills through constant doodling, developing a sharp sense of composition and line. His approach merges the digital and the handmade, drawing parallels to David Hockney’s iPad drawings but with a unique twist: Shaw translates his pixelated digital sketches into detailed, hand-painted canvases. The final works retain the crisp lines and fluid movements of the digital drawings, with layers of overlapping color and line that add a sense of depth. It’s as if the viewer could visually penetrate the space within the composition.

Shaw’s paintings are influenced by the dynamic visual landscape of New York City, drawing inspiration from elements of graphic design, such as street signs, logos, and advertisements. He distorts and manipulates these visual cues using his drawing app, then refines them through image editing tools before transferring the designs onto canvas by hand. The result is a vibrant, intricate conversation of lines, shapes, and colors, shaped by the digital tools he uses. Shaw’s acrylic-on-canvas works are both spontaneous and meticulously executed.

Artist’s CV