Drew Ernst

About

Drew Ernst attended Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, the oldest art museum and school in the United States. There, he studied under accomplished artists such as Sidney Goldman, Peter Paone, and Bo Bartlett. To learn the intricacies of the human form, Ernst also spent time at the Hahnemann Medical School in Philadelphia, drawing cadavers.

Drew Ernst’s work captures mixed, even conflicting, emotions and oppositional energies. The scale, generally large and sometimes monumental, allows the paintings to take on their own life. Their human size invites the viewer to become a part of the depicted universe, to step past the surface, to engage and explore the different layers hidden within the strong light that defines Ernst’s world.

Ernst credits his creative drive and photographic precision to childhood experiences of observing his father, an image-maker. As a very small child, he would sit on the floor of his father’s dark room with a huge roll of white paper and finger paint. While his father developed photos, he would paint in the dark or hue of the red light.

Commenting on his own creative process, Ernst states that like the resulting work, it is a complex thing, “contradictory, containing both positive and negative energy, a strange journey through the human psyche, bringing inspiration and excitement.” Each new idea experienced as both a “sort of meditation-like zone” but also “an obsession. Our minds take us to strange places.”

“Every emotion goes into my paintings – love, hate, joy, sadness – it’s all in there. An amazing thing happens when you love hard and paint hard. You become one with the work. The mind can make paint do things, anything – make it behave in ways it shouldn’t. The act of painting becomes spiritual. Once this happens, anything is possible.”

Selected Exhibitions

2019         Under the Influence | Contemporary Artists and the Masters Who Inspire Them, Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

2014         Untitled, Haley Fine Art, Sperryville, VA

2012         Awake, Haley Fine Art, Sperryville, VA

2012         Butler Institute Of American Art, Youngstown, OH

2010         Butler Institute Of American Art, Youngstown, OH

2010         New Work, Haley Fine Art, Sperryville, VA

2008         Oranges & Sardines, Winston-Wachter Fine Art, Seattle, WA

2006         Altered States, Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC

2006         Mansfield Art Center, Mansfield, OH

2006         70th National Midyear, Butler Institute Of American Art, Youngstown, OH

2006         Allegory, Winston Wachter Fine Art, Seattle, WA

2006         From Sea to Shining Sea, DC Art Center, Washington, DC

2005         Connected, Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC

2005         Out of Line, Seraphin Gallery, Jenkintown, PA

Education

2002         Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

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