Erica Burnham

Have you ever played ding-dong ditch with the Grim Reaper?
I have been close to death, and that proximity to the end of one’s own mortal coil has acted as more of a motivation than I ever thought possible. My passions have always taken a turn towards the unusual in art, and it grew through the course of my life, kindled by authors such as Poe, Lovecraft, Hawthone and Wilde. My childhood sketches and doodles manifested into many ideas and dreams of what I envisioned as a beautiful, albeit eccentric life.
I was hospitalized in 2009. I was given no hope for survival. In this bleak reality, art grew to a pinnacle of importance for myself. It was my way to vent and to try to leave behind some sort of legacy before my trip into the void. My young children and my art gave me the courage to recover through impossible odds and get back to my studies, further restoring and to reignite my passion for the arts in newer ways that blended the same hope and humor with colorful morbidity. I began painting scenes of fantasy and experimenting with surrealism. My art became my therapy, embodying my experience and other childhood fears with a humorous spin that retained a hopeful optimism and vision.
My current body of work has become focused on skulls, and pairing them with bright colors of sweets and desserts in cheerful morbidity that showcases the irony often accompanied with eating disorders. It is my hope in this way to bring awareness and hope to others.