American, born 1975; Lives and works in Santa Barbara, CA.

Laced with sharp humor, Eric Beltz’s graphite drawings explore the origin of symbols and myths with hypnotic precision. Working only with a pencil and paper, Beltz finds color to be a distraction in his work—a preference mirrored in the white, gray, and black Miniature Schnauzers that keep him company in the studio and at home. He currently teaches drawing and painting at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In his series “American Visions,” Beltz recasts stories and characters from colonial American history, like George Washington and his fabled cherry tree, in a grayscale revelation. These drawings includes quotes from the Old Testament, Revolutionary-era texts, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Medieval herbals among other sources, with narrative imagery to render historical facts as founding myths.

Beltz’s meticulously composed drawings, Drunk Jesus Calendar (2010) and How to Identify Flowering Plant Families (2010) are currently on view in Stranger Than Fiction. Both works are part of the artist’s latest series, “Trance Farm,” which explores religion and spirituality through the natural world as well as altered states of consciousness.

Education: MFA, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2004; BFA, California State University, Fullerton, 2000.

Solo Exhibitions: Trance Farm (forthcoming in February), Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY, 2011; The Philosopher’s Garden, Rio Hondo College, Whittier, CA, 2009; Solo project at Pulse, New York, booth #1-03, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY, 2009; The Good Land, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY, 2008; HISTROY!, Acuna-Hansen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2007; Hypnobotany: Visions of a Field Naturalist, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA, 2005.

Selected Awards and Fellowships: Pulse Prize, Pulse Art Fair, New York, NY, 2009.

Artist’s website: http://www.ericbeltz.com

EVENT: Plotlines featuring Eric Beltz

Please join us this Sunday, November 7 at 2:30 PM at SBMA for a special tour led by Eric as part of our Plotlines series. Plotlines allows visitors to join artists whose work is currently exhibited in the galleries for an informal walk-and-talk about their own art as well as other works on view in the Museum.  Listen in and participate as he weaves and unravels his own narrative within the Museum walls. Free with suggested Museum admission.

Captions (all works by Eric Beltz; images courtesy of Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York): Tree of the Evil Eagle, 2008. Graphite on Bristol. 40 x 30” • Breath of Satan, 2007. Graphite on paper. 23 x 17” • Drunk Jesus Calendar, 2010. Graphite on Bristol. 29 x 23”. Museum Purchase, 2010.45 • How To Identify Flowering Plant Families, 2010. Graphite on Bristol. 29 x 23”