Meet Eric Pflug

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Pflug.

Hi Eric, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Many Pflug households are jam-packed with rambunctious and goofy energy, as it has been a family tradition to have an exuberant number of offspring. I grew up in such an environment as the 8th of 10 children. Being on the tail-end of a large family is a prime placement to foster the imagination!

What contributed most to my current artistic lifestyle is my family’s creativity. All of my relatives are musicians in some fashion. Also, my eldest sister, Molly, is a visual artist. I always found her work incredibly inspiring growing up. She now teaches art at Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha. Fast forward to the summer of 2016. I had just graduated high school, moved out of my parent’s place, and was working as a carpenter’s apprentice. 18 months of swinging a hammer and learning the trade passed.

I found myself unable to continue due to a shoulder injury acquired in a skateboarding accident. This is when I decided to dive headfirst into a painting career. I moved to Colorado in October 2018. Today, I live in a 1976 Itasca Motorhome. My art studio is tucked into a corner of a pole barn in Mead. Life is good.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There’s not a soul amongst us that hasn’t had their fair share of trials along the way. My biggest challenge over the past few years has been with mental health. I spent a significant portion of the years of 2015-2019 self-medicating with alcohol and psychedelics. Following a particularly rough incident of drug-induced psychosis, an 11-day stay at a psychiatric treatment facility was the turning point in my mental healing.

Though still difficult, the last three (non-consecutive) years of sobriety have been incredible! These days I usually wake up in a warm blanket of gratitude, am finding deeply meaningful connections with friends and family, and am constantly inspired by my placement in the universe!

(P.S. Dear Reader, If you or a loved one is struggling with mental health, please, do not hesitate to seek professional help! Mental well-being is so incredibly important, You Got This!)

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My artistic style is honestly all over the place right now. I’m currently working with: acrylics, pastels, watercolors, collages, textiles, digital, wood, ceramics, copper, lighting, poetry, culinary, and a bit of music. If you were to ask friends and family what I’m most known for you would probably get a lot of different answers. I am the self-proclaimed “Jack of All Trades- Master of Fun.” I just started a very marketable, unique painting service by reusing clients’ leftover house paint.

This ensures the work will best fit their space’s current style. Lately, I’ve been most excited about making light fixtures and finding new ways to combine all these various mediums into something sculptural and luminous. We shall see if time finds me a specific niche… maybe unlimited creative avenues are a niche of their own?

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
There is a big concern in the art community right now with all the Artificial Intelligence Art generators. The biggest issue with AI art is that many artists have had their work used as style prompts without their permission or compensation. This is immoral and there may soon be a colossal class-action lawsuit against AI art generator companies.

However, AI could be an extremely productive revenue stream for artists if these copyright issues can be resolved. In an ideal world, I envision this issue playing out as follows: Every time their style is permissibly used in an AI prompt the artist gets royalties and written credits. Done properly, an artist’s work should become more recognized and popular online, as it is altered in generators.

Parallelly, with the rise of AI art, I see the digital sector being flooded, especially on social media. That virtual saturation and exposure may be leaving physical, handmade objects more valuable to collectors. Tie all these resolutions into the potential of blockchain technology, give credit where it’s due, and make royalties fundamental. We may very well be seeing the most empowered and prolific era of creators yet.

Contact Info:

• Website: eporiginals.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_garbajio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eric.pflug.7

Image Credits:
Headshot photo by Daniel Pflug