Some of Eric's Art

Some of Eric's Art

Come visit Eric's Collection of fine art at R Michelson Gallery

One example is shown above, in the painting of "The Boatman."

---

This picture of Rembrandt was very pleasing to Leonard and he traded me one of his pictures for it.

Above is the actual letter from Leonard Baskin.

---

---

Recent Works

---

Sculptural Works

This bronze sculpture of an idealized woman's figure is dedicated to Eric's muse whom he calls: "The Sweetie."

This face is a bronze sculpture of Leonard Baskin, by his student Eric Vellert.

---

---

One Day In Heaven

Of course, art would be empty without any spiritual essence, and, many works of art are empty regardless of content. For example: Van Gogh has a spiritual core, where as Eddy Manet (not to be confused with Claude Monet) was more dead than his largely monochromatic use of color.

Rumi leaves Melville and Hawthorne in the dirt. And, while it might not surprise you that Beethoven has a spiritual star - it may indeed surprise you that the Rolling Stones have a spiritual muse - their love of African American music going all the way back. (I think that The Stones are the greatest Rock and Roll band in history.)

I'm not a great writer. The Truth is that this just came to me one sunny morning. Suddenly, an inspiration came through. Probably God's Grace, or God asking an Avatar to help me - - sending love and support. I truly cannot say how it happened, but it did.

The Truth is that owning Art is a responsibility and a privilege. This is shown in the film called, "The Red Violin." The violin moves through time and space - from one 'owner' to another - it is as if the violin chooses those that it can trust.

Art is like that. Some may assume that merely owning art is in - itself - cool. Not so. What is "cool" is protecting art, and passing it on, to those who will take care of it. If you want the respect of friends and history, then you need to do what is best for the art that has been entrusted to you. That is virtue, and will earn you respect in the history of art, and the love of those souls - who love art - that will only get to meet you, one day in Heaven.

This is one of the reasons that people donate art to museums. It is like sending a love letter into the future.

Right now, I can't afford the money, I'm very poor, it seems that being an artist doesn't pay well. However, when I can afford it - I will try to create a legal contract - a sort of "ticket to Heaven" - that I will put on the internet.

You see, all my art, and everything that I have, was long ago promised to serve God's work on Earth.

This is a true story, and it is in no way intended to criticize any Church or any spiritual organization, nor any Religion. For reasons that were never explained to me, I am not allowed to name my Church on the internet. Some people may know about it, I really can't say.

What I can tell you, is that it was created by the will of Christ, and that it is guided by saints, who are united with God and Christ.

One of these saints was giving a talk. I arrived late, and stayed in the back so that I would not disturb people. Right away, this saint paused, as if he were listening to orders from God, then he changed to a different topic.

I took notes as fast as I could. One of the things that stuck in my mind, was when he said that this Church was created by God, and was God's work on Earth.

This inspired me to will all that I leave behind to this work of God on Earth. I pray that friends, who have some of my art, may avail themselves of that Grace.

My Poems are usually created in thought. Once in a while, revisions are written, as they occur to be needed. But the normal way is all in mind, before writing.

The visual art work does not follow one pattern of creation, and I don't have any "formula," that I follow. However, when pressed to describe my work, I say that my influences are, van Gogh, and Rembrandt. This is a shorthand that most people understand.

However, there are, of course, many more artists that have had very important influences, beyond those that Leonard Baskin named. Some of these are: Vermeer, Titian, da Vinci, and Michelangelo, among the Old Masters. (I actually got locked into the British National Gallery, by trying to study their da Vinci drawing too long.)

Among the more recent artists are Degas, Jonkind, and Monet. (It is a little known fact that Monet said that Jonkind was his master, i.e. teacher.) I do like some of Renoir, and, the early periods - blue and rose - of Picasso. These are the main influences, but there are many others, including Leonard Baskin.

My love of art made me drive from my college, all the way to see Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" in New York City. I was only able to study it for 15 minutes before the Met closed.

My reason for repeatedly going to England, was to be able to study the Rembrands, in their wonderful National Gallery. Finding the large da Vinci drawing, was just the icing on the cake. The British National Gallery is my favorite museum in the world.

I have the odd distinction of being -- as far as I know -- the only person to be locked into the British National Gallery.

It was about 5 minutes before closing time, and I wanted to spend it looking at da Vinci's large drawing, which is in a small room with a bench for comfort. I planned to stay there as long as possible, until one of the guards told me that it was time to go. However, no guard did so. As I sat, studying da Vinci, the museum became more and more quiet. In fact, it was too quiet, no sound at all. This was unnerving, so I emerged, only to find the place empty.

As an artist, with a love of art, I naturally didn't touch anything. I walked to the grand staircase and began to call out, "Hello! Is anybody there?" I kept on calling as I descended the stairs toward the new entrance. Finally, a guard came out as I was most of the way down. I explained what had just happened and said how sorry I was. He said, "This has never happened before." I kept on apologizing, and, he kept on saying, "This has never happened before.", as he led me to a side door where we said, "goodbye."

As Jesus said, "if you can receive it..." God tole me - directly - to: "Paint!" Since then, the devil has made that virtually impossible. When I am able to paint again, I will post here, where my art is available.

God also said, that the vibration or the presence of Spirit, will be present in my art. God also said, that it didn't matter whether I, or anyone else believed it - God said that God's word depends only on its own nature of truth.

---

The image at left is a scan of a faxed image. As a result, it is impossible to match the original, but you can get a sense of what it looks like. This is a pen and ink sketch.

[Unsigned drawing by Eric of his former wife.]

---

Below are four images that represent an example of the correct and honest way to retouch any work of art. (Museum conservators ALWAYS make sure that their retouchings are very easily seen by other conservators and experts.) The first image is the original image. The second image shows the damages areas and spots circled in red. The third image shows the retouched image, with the areas still indicated. The final image shows only the retouched image. This work was done by my good friend Jonah.

---

Please Note: I am very poor and may not be able to keep this site up for many years. Please download any parts that you want to keep for the future.

---

My art was previously under the care and protection of the good people at a company called Artex. I recently wrote to them, a letter explaining why I entrusted them with a lot of my art. This is a part of that letter:

"You should be informed of my plans for the artwork that I have entrusted into your care. It is not for me! My artwork, including photographs, has all been dedicated to serve God's work on earth.

I have entrusted you with my life's work, which is dedicated to God. The plan is to sell it when it becomes valuable, and to give as much money as possible, to serve God's work on earth.

---