Erol Scott Harris: “I feel that the landscape occupies the body just as much as the body occupies the landscape. I generate a narrative scene by using my body as a stamp. The surfaces upon which I leave marks are material vehicles for spirit. I’m being guided to physicalize my ancestors in painting, photography, sculpture, and video-–to conjure hope, justice, freedom, and joy in order to heal my community and to aid in the cultural transformation of the world.”
During the first four weeks of his residency, Harris will experiment with using his body as a paint applicator on surfaces including linoleum, plastic, vinyl, and canvas through such actions as pressing, folding, and pouring. Using a paintbrush as a wand, he can then go in and exaggerate his “stamps” by applying strokes in an exhaustive way, without dipping back into the paint between strokes, but rather by moving the brush across the surface until it runs dry.
The residency will culminate in a two-week long solo exhibition, LORE, which will bring forward lived experiences and complex identities through a window installation and Harris’ new painted wallworks. In addition to investigations into the use of his body as a painting tool, the works are grounded in family lore (Erol spelled in reverse) that connects Harris’ paternal African-American background (specifically, a father named Earl and a grandfather named Early) with his mother’s side of the family—vintners who migrated from Códoba, Spain to Guanajuato and Zamora, México, to ultimately become railroad workers in Chicago. Harris is reminded of his background each day, as he looks out his studio window and watches the sunset over the railroad tracks that his grandfather helped lay and the train cars in which his family lived and his great-grandmother was born.
Erol Scott Harris: LORE is curated by Tiger Strikes Asteroid Chicago member, Teresa Silva.
![]()
The residency will culminate in a two-week long solo exhibition, LORE, which will bring forward lived experiences and complex identities through a window installation and Harris’ new painted wallworks. In addition to investigations into the use of his body as a painting tool, the works are grounded in family lore (Erol spelled in reverse) that connects Harris’ paternal African-American background (specifically, a father named Earl and a grandfather named Early) with his mother’s side of the family—vintners who migrated from Códoba, Spain to Guanajuato and Zamora, México, to ultimately become railroad workers in Chicago. Harris is reminded of his background each day, as he looks out his studio window and watches the sunset over the railroad tracks that his grandfather helped lay and the train cars in which his family lived and his great-grandmother was born.
Erol Scott Harris: LORE is curated by Tiger Strikes Asteroid Chicago member, Teresa Silva.
Aquaphoria ( Homage to JC, 11’ x 6’, mixed media on canvas & linoluem scroll.
For me, “Arena 00” is a density of signs - a musical score for me to play on my cello. My body is a kind of free-floating signifier, it’s trace cannot be pinned down; it can never be “put to rest.” It demands to fill in the gaps of the grid of the linoleum, aka the stanza.
“Iris”, 25”x25”, oil on panel
