There’s always an “aha” moment when you fall in love with a work of art. It’s much more than a cerebral event, even though your brain is firing all kinds of pleasurable images to your entire body. Like falling in love, perhaps, the discovery of any work of art that truly resonates with you will move you in a profound manner, perhaps inspiring you to new thoughts, feelings and even action.
Gary T. Erbe is a Nutley based artist with a genius for such art. His works, which hover between humorous, startling and magnificent are truly the result of a lifetime passion for what he loves: painting and creating art. And, like a true poet, this master painter offers haunting, precise images that will intermingle with one another in a very exact manner, leading you to a heightened state of awareness and appreciation.
Erbe, following in the footsteps of other Nutley artists, lives in the Enclosure, an idyllic slice of historic New Jersey known for its rich history of residences for well known artists and their works.
Visiting him on a sunny, clear autumn day, I saw first hand how this soft-spoken artist builds his vision on canvas, to share with the world. Erbe’s gift - which is now shared throughout the U.S. in numerous museums - is grounded in an art form that is so 3-dimensional you will swear it leaps off the canvas: Trompe l’oeil.
The Trompe l’oeil style was born in the 19th century, and creates a truly multi-dimensional field on the canvas. Erbe, however, has not only become a master of this art form but has also morphed it into an even more astounding dimension. There is something of Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso that seems to have influenced his work.
On September 15, about 200 people attended a the unveiling of Erbe’s newest work,
“Annie Oakley: Little Sure Shot” at the Nutley Museum.
Board member and art enthusiast Nancy Greulich said she was thrilled with the turnout and deeply moved by the work of art.
“We were very happy with the number of people at our event,” said Greulich. “Our local faithful and many others attended, including a lot of art people from Manhattan. Erbe’s piece was amazing. People thought it was beautiful, absolutely outstanding and if you saw it in person, it was huge.”
Nutley has had a long love affair with the renowned Annie Oakley, who resided in the township and was famous for her sharp shooting skills and personality, as she traveled the world with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
Erbe’s large, deeply moving tribute to Annie Oakley is stunning on every level - of which there are many.
The depth of the work, with its many deeply thought out stages of light and darkness, along with the textures of elements such as the rippling flag with its shadows, the layered photo cards and booklets, the rolled up poster representing the Wild West shows, and the intensely realistic looking photographs painted in this immense painting leap off the canvas.
Truly, it was so hard not to just “reach out and touch” it - since every element seemed so
physically 3-dimensional, a style he named ““Levitational Realism” in 1969.
Erbe said it has taken him a lifetime to perfect - and take this Trompe l’oeil style of painting - to a new level. But this long time artist never studied art in school. Instead, he discovered his own gift through his stepfather, who one day showed up in their family home with art supplies.
“When I was a young boy, my stepfather, who was the most wonderful man, brought me home a watercolor set,” said Erbe. “It was tragic, since he died when I was very young. My entire life changed. But it wasn’t until later, at 21, that I realized I had a void in my life, which drew me back to art and to painting.”
A major influence in Erbe’s life was his mentor and friend, John Grabach, whose stunning paintings hang in most of the rooms in this prolific artist’s home.
“He painted for a lifetime,” Erbe said, as he showed me works from Grabach’s early years and then paintings done in his nineties. “He lived to 101.”
In 1965, with a young family and no money for art school, Erbe focused on teaching himself to paint. He found work as a young adult as an engraver, which turned out to
be a job that helped lead him to his destiny as a successful full-time artist.
Though Erbe focuses on his unique version of Trompe l’oeil, where objects seem to levitate off the page and every single fold or item or face is like the very precise word of a haunting poem placed just so, he treasures one particular painting most of all.
The work, “Frankie” (1966) shows a young boy, decked out in a sailor outfit. He is holding a treasured toy boat, wearing a jaunty sailor cap topped off with a bright red puff that brings the viewer’s eyes immediately to his light red hair and vibrant happy smile.
“Frankie”, of course, is a painting of Erbe’s beloved stepfather, who gently lead him from what would turn out to be a hard scrabble childhood into a life filled with provoking, luscious and always deeply moving paintings.
Since this article cannot include all of Erbe’s images and bio, you may visit his website at www.garyerbe.com. A local treasure, living in Nutley, this respected painter has his works - including major works - hanging in numerous museums throughout the country.
“Annie Oakley: Little Sure Shot” is now on exhibition at the Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio. The long list of museums that have purchased his work and his numerous awards and honors is too long to print, so please visit his website.
Bio:
Erbe has exhibited extensively since 1970 with solo exhibitions at Museums and galleries throughout America, Asia and Europe. Erbe has been invited into many important exhibitions in America and abroad including “Outward Bound – American Art on the Brink of the 21st Century” that was organized by Meridian International Center in Washington, DC, which traveled throughout the Far East. His work was also represented in “American Realism”, which opened September 2012 at The Beijing World Museum in China and traveled to five Museums in China for over a year and half. Erbe has also garnered many awards and honors over the years including an unprecedented 6 Gold Medals at The Allied Artists of America, Inc. Annual Exhibitions held at The National Arts Club, NYC. He also received the Medal for Lifetime Achievement in American Art from The Butler Institute of American Art, OH and the Salmagundi Club Medal of Honor, NYC. He also received the Gold Medal from The National Museum of Sports, IN; First Prize Award from The National Arts Club, NYC and Gold Medal of Honor from Audubon Artists, NYC, amongst others.
Erbe’s work combines flat space forms that are exaggerated and enhanced by shadow, light and color. The result is pure three-dimensional illusion. While there are and will always be elements of Trompe l’oeil in his work, he has less of an interest in fooling the eye in favor of stimulating the mind.
Erbe was honored with a 25 year traveling retrospective in 1995 and a 40-year traveling retrospective in 2010 and currently, Erbe maintains his studio in Nutley, NJ
