"Many would argue that the art of Derek Erdman is beyond good--that his portraits of Cardiss Collins and Charles Manson make the real faces of Cardiss Collins and Charles Manson look pedantic. Others would argue that Derek Erdman has made a name for himself by making a name for himself. Either way, he will help you laugh at anything and be polite about it. That, my friend, is a skill that only circus clowns are born with." - Cienna Madrid "Your parties were always the best & you are certainly one of the most creative individuals I met in the 6 years I lived in Chicago." - Lynn Gadson "Wow Huffpo. You must be important!" - Emily Taplin Boyd "Derek, I hope to see your work in person. Just waiting for it to be less than 3 hours flight away." - Claus Castenskiold "I don't get it, where are the cheeseburgers and panda bears and hipster chicks?" Ace "Are you negotiable on the price? I'M JUST KIDDING. It's not my style anyway. P.S. You ARE a genius." ThatHoosier "The picture is bigger than I expected, but it's still going up in my office. All my co-workers are jealous." Leah Giblin "What really irks me is that the Reader is using the artwork of non-artist Derek Erdman, who somehow manages to lose the semblance of the face WHILE tracing it. Is it possible that an incompetent caricature, which depends on skin coloring for lack of accurately portrayed facial features is part of what made made people so mad...without even knowing it? Bad art makes me angry (obviously) on a very subconscious level...So many capable artists in this town, such a shame..." Karlis Kandero "I was at a random party waiting in the bathroom line and this girl goes, 'Nice Derek Erdman button.' I was like, 'Do you know him?' and she said, 'No, but I love his artwork.' Sasha Morgan "Hi, I love the art work so much, do you export it abroad? I'm in London." Gemma Bowes "He didn't go to art school." Fair White Frogman "I love your mom too!" Ali Kendrick "You are famous, maybe." Lacey Swain "...I love your site -- it really captures that do-it-yourself spirit of the olden days... Hah. The olden days." Sandi Tan "I love your ice cream cones and hamburgers. All my favorite colors and flavors in one place." Miss Alex White "I just got the painting today. It's really fucking fantastic, I was carrying it up my stairs and two people asked if it was supposed to be a self portrait of myself, haha." Brigitte Fritz "If you got one of these CDs from Derek, you should listen to it." Sam Sawyer "It is way too amazing." Sarah Moody "I'm addicted to your paintings. Please start sucking soon, I'm running out of wall space." Sally Crewe "You know you really aren't that funny right? Stick to the paintings, they are pretty good. But your comedy sucks." Michael Allen "I don't care much for modern art and I definately don't like modern artists, but this guy seems alright." Miles Ormsby (The Utne Reader) "I stole a line from Erdman for a painting in London. Now he is using my name for profit. I don't know who this guy is, but I bet he has something coming to him and with him." James J. Williams III "Buy a Derek Erdman while you can. It's not going to be too long before the rest of the world discovers him." GFR "Considering that we have an ocean blue family room, a chartreuse kitchen, and teal powder room in our chicago home, Derek's use of color in his art attracts us. It helps that his paintings evoke nostalgia, edginess and grit all at the same time . . . love his work" -Erica Ruff "This painting expresses the inchoate joy and struggles of animal and man equally, but I cannot figure out where to hang it in my house." Jessica Hopper "Out of control amazing." Diana Johnson "I like Derek Erdman's art so much, that sometimes I have dreams where the dream looks like it was drawn by Derek, and I know this, and I wake up in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable about my body." J. Niimi "Derek's art adds a lovely note of frivolity to my dining room." NC "Good
art, I too am obsessed with going to jail." - Grant Binni (UK) "This art is tight, where's your bathroom?" Patrick Carney (Drums & Production - The Black Keys) "I own several Erdmans. I never get tired of looking at them. His work is creepy and weird but also innocent and childlike, like the throwaway drawings of a young sociopath. Everyone who comes into contact with his stuff immediately has questions. Erdmans are obvious conversation pieces. Nobody doesnt like them, nobody doesnt ask. Derek Erdman is most assuredly "on to something." If not "on something." Oh ha ha ha ha ha." Erin Hosier "His style is simple but his comment is meaningful, satirical and subtle. " Mary Beyer "I'm in the business of buying and building an interpretive center for my school of thought called The Sixty Crickets. And this takes money. A lot of it. Derek went way out of bounds and donated an original portrait of me, which now lives on a t-shirt in my online store. The proceeds of which go towards my soon-to-be intrepitive center. Derek's a true artist in the sense that he gives and he gets it." Dwell Taylor "When I look at Derek Erdman's art it feels like I am going through puberty again, only this time it is really good." Jason Polan "I have commissioned several pieces from Derek and I am very pleased with his output. I will purchase more art from Mr. Erdman in the future. Rating: five stars." Lacey Swain "Derek Erdman's artwork is bright and funny more absurdist than ironic in a way that simply makes me really happy. The only thing holding me back from owning all of Derek's artwork is pure physical scale." Liz Clayton "Derek's artwork is hilarious. He does what he wants. Derek's depictions of social oddities take the ordinary to an extrordinary level." Allison Ann Reimus "I remember you saying that the stuff you do is like an Art Buffet. I always liked that. Derek Erdman: All you can eat!" Jen "The Knife" Messer "Once, when studying an Erdman work, for a brief, fleeting moment I almost didn't have a pathological hatred of all art." Jim Newberry "Derek's work is thoughtful, striking and without pretense. It's the only thing I have hanging (in my house)." John Kress "Our next Annual Art Auction is scheduled for April, 2007 and we hope we can count on your participation." Cleveland Public Theatre "That's art? That's not art." Mrs. Pedraza "Derek's work ranks among my all time favorite things in life." Jenny Magazine "Derek asked us which cat we wanted and we pointed to one and he said "Really? That's the worst one!" I guess that goes to show you that even Derek's worst ones are the best." Bob Peck "I like the Pre-Erdman period of Derek's work." R. John Xerxes "I have forwarded your request to our art department, I think that they will be able to come up with something good to add to your website as they are the ones who found your art and are more familiar with it. Ill let you know when I hear back from them. If not, I will be more than happy to add a quote." Jennifer Keane (HarperCollins) "Derek Erdman's art gives people from Cleveland something to look forward to. Thank you." - Karey Markovich "I love Derek's art! I love the pieces themselves and I love the ideas behind them. That's why I bought so much of it!" Simon May "Although his prolificity and his devotion to absurdism are obviously the keys to any success Derek Erdman has enjoyed, his best pieces are genuinely excellent examples of portraiture. Despite often working at an assembly line pace, as well as utilizing and referencing certain methods of mechanical reproduction, Erdman's lively linework and his ability to recognize and capture the subtle attributes of his subject's faces -the slight tilt of an lip or the weight of a drooping eyelid - are what make his best work so successful. Though they share only a few formal qualities, his work reminds me of the early Andy Warhol paintings (the Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse one in particular) in which the artist demonstrated that he had the aesthetic skills and painterly proficiency to make genuine, good ol' paintings using brush, pigment and palette. All Warhol's subsequent work, be it conceptual, jobbed out, or machine-assisted, was successful because these skills were his foundation, and I expect Erdman's mountains of future output to similarly benefit from his strong artistic eye and his confident hand." Jake Austen You have something to say about me? Oh you're very kind. |