Simulacra Exhibition
Eric Telfort was born to Haitian immigrants in Little Haiti, Miami, Florida. He has earned a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. He has taught at the University of Rhode Island, Providence and currently teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design. His work speaks to the resourcefulness of boys and girls to create in modest conditions and the influence of popular culture and celebrity on that short but remarkable time of childhood.
Telfort's painted figures might also suggest a reflection on the process of growing up and how that experience prefigures the lives of adult individuals.
"Simulacra is a word that best describes my personal artistic journey. The series
of paintings are representations of imitative childhood moments. They come from a
silly, albeit honest, reality of my childhood experience creating a vast fantasy world
with toilet paper rolls, and ordinary objects. Coming from a low income urban environment,
and not being able to afford toys allowed me to develop my inventive creativity through
imitation of everyday experiences. These fantastical moments became realities during
the many pockets of free time I had growing up. They helped shape my creativity artistic
experience in which t-shirts became hair, bed sheet capes validated super humanism,
and cardboard guns had just as much influence as the real thing." - Eric Telfort