Hi, I’m Erik - born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, but currently I’m based in The Hague, Netherlands, where I like it very much, and where I work as an artist and educator.
My work concerns itself with fundamental existential themes and questions and how they reveal themselves in the everyday, small, unassuming experiences of being alive. I approach topics like death, consciousness, and the search for meaning in a seemingly meaningless world with humor and energy. To me, there are no disparate parts—no real borders between the mental, the physical, and the metaphysical, and the nature of my work is to bring all these parts together, to make them share a space with each other and make a communication happen. What questions arise when the profound and the inconsequential, the real and the imaginary, the joyful and the devastating, are viewed side by side and treated equally? What insights does that give about our place in a world that grows increasingly dynamic and undefined, where disciplines and identities continuously merge and reshape?
My work, at its core, yearns for interdisciplinarity, to take many forms. A sense of constant change pervades, a feeling of movement. This way of working lends itself to a more ethereal form—drawings look erased and redrawn, installations feel they can be taken down in a matter of minutes, and in performances I often take on the role of a narrator or guide undergoing intense changes, switching character abruptly, and playing with language and time. It’s important to me that serious philosophical themes are approached in a playful, visceral, and engaging way, so that audiences can connect to them on a down-to-earth, emotional, and personal level.
Exploring these themes through art helps me make sense of my own existential questions in ways that are surprising and unexpected.
CV