Eric Garduño’s work provides an intellectual aesthetic that is informed by academic and philosophical subjects. Visual elements such as pattern, contrast, and simple geometric abstraction are frequently referenced formal practices in Garduño’s work. Among these abstractions is a familiar triangular shape, of which the artist has formed a relationship with in his work and identifies as a symbol more so that a shape or form. Garduño confesses to not fully understanding his attraction to triangles, other than an interest in the equilateral. He also finds that they are a reprieve from the ubiquity of rectangles.

Garduño is known for his charcoal drawings that use certain archetypical motifs. They frequently consist of high contrasting stripes and dynamic shapes to explore visual manifestations of power. In the fall of 2014, Garduño expanded his practice to include sculptures that initially functioned as a translation of drawings into objects. The sculptures take the power and soul of the drawings but filter them through one of Garduño’s earliest childhood impulses; a desire to collect, refine and reconfigure. Unlike the precision and sophistication of the drawings, the objects come from a place of rough, raw and immature construction. This leaves for an artwork that’s been weathered and designed specifically to render the archetypical motifs and symbols that humanity have time and time again returned to as a reference of inspiration.

Eric Garduño graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2004 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and then went on to receive his Master of Fine Arts from Yale University in 2006. His work has been exhibited in multiple museums, galleries, and art centers nationally and internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Arts, San Diego, SITE Santa Fe, MOCA Los Angeles, and the Contemporary Art Center, Shanghai, China.