Erik J. Beltran was born in Fresno, California. He received his B.A. in Painting at California State University, Fresno and an M.F.A in Interdisciplinary Art from the San Francisco Art Institute. He currently resides in Oakland, California.
Beltran’s current work has evolved into spatial constructions that investigate the intersection of painting, architecture, and sculpture. The whimsical quality of his structural assemblages dismantle and contort the space they are presented in thus reconfiguring the viewer’s experience with these poetic objects. A great deal of his sculptures depends on the site and context where they are exhibited. The required adaptation of the pieces integrates the space to work, extending it inevitably to the language of installation and site-specificity. From recycled wood to urban detritus, the material choices contain layers of historical physicality that attempt to bridge the gap between street aesthetics and elevated art objects.