Artist Spotlight: Erik Rinard

Anna Hainze

Armed with a knack for the creative and a desire not to starve to death in the post-Lawrence world, senior Erik Rinard is ready to take the art world by storm. Though he began his Lawrence career with close to a gazillion minors and a couple trillion majors, those extreme ambitions were put to rest after experiencing all the art department has to offer. Even Rinard’s artistic concentration changed when he entered the daunting doors of Wriston. “In spite of my high school focus on photography, after starting to pursue art at Lawrence I began to work almost exclusively in traditional 2-D art, like painting and printmaking,” said Rinard.When asked what type of art and what artists he found most inspiring, Rinard responded with what might be considered a short dissertation, listing such diverse interests as German Expressionism, the work of contemporary artists Vic Muniz and Ryan Trecartin, a fascination with the Buñuel/Dalí film “Un Chien Andalou,” and a “perverse attraction to hellish art.”

Although he is not exhibiting right now, you may have seen some of Rinard’s work around campus and not even known it. “I think the coolest things I’ve done in art at Lawrence are the shows I’ve helped set up in the Mudd Gallery,” he said. “The show I am most proud of is the one I curated last year for the Intermediate/Advanced Painting class. It was a thrill to be involved in every step of the process and see it come to fruition.” Rinard is not always a behind-the-scenes guy, however — look for his pieces in this spring’s Senior Show at Wriston.