Mid Century Modern is of course celebrated for its clean lines and pairings of distinctive shapes. Artist Erich Meager creates beautiful art reflective of these stylistic impulses in Mid Mod design, while alluding to the beauty of Palm Springs breezeblock, the initial inspiration for his work. We caught up with Erich to ask him more about his unique art.
Atomic Ranch: For those unfamiliar, how would you describe your art? What material is it made from?
Erich Meager: People always ask me to describe my artwork, and they’re surprised to hear it’s geometric work constructed from layers of paper working together to create a pattern. For me, it’s more of math puzzle to solve, figuring out how all the pieces might work together and how many variations I can make from one design. I’m most comfortable working with paper for my art, but I also work in thin sheets of MDF wood (a type of plywood) and acrylic, and those tend to be a bit thicker than the paper.
AR: What was the inspiration behind your art?
EM: The main inspiration came from the Mid Century Modern breezeblock all around Palm Springs, where I live. I started making the pieces at the beginning of the pandemic, when everything was closed and all you could do was walk around. While walking, I noticed there were these different shades of breezeblocks, and I thought, ‘I could probably do something with those,’ and that’s how I got started.
AR: Was this the first time you had ever made something like this?
EM: I went to school for architecture. So, I always really kind of enjoyed design and playing around with geometric shapes. But this work was kind of the first time I’d made art like this. I had started out doing it just for myself. By the time I began making the finished pieces though, I thought maybe someone would be interested in my art. I approached a gallery in town, Rubine Red, because their logo is made up of all kinds of breezeblock chains. I asked them if they would be interested in showing my work and everything went from there.
AR: Have there been any challenges along the way to creating your art?
EM: Teaching myself how to do the intricate layering that each piece requires was done through trial and error. It was probably one of the harder learning curves of making this type of art because I wouldn’t know until the end if the cutouts in the layers piece of paper, wood or acrylic were done correctly to create the piece as intended.
For more on Erich’s work, check out his work on collections available for purchase.
