ERIC THEODORE

MEDIUM

Painting

ARTIST STATEMENT

“My paintings explore the body as a poetic arrangement of light and shadow. I depict male figures in aquatic and athletic settings, surrounded by sky, inspired by my experience in the sport of diving.”

ARTIST BIO

Eric Theodore is a figurative painter originally from Knoxville, Tennessee. He studied representational drawing, painting, and glassblowing at Centre College in Kentucky, where he received his bachelor’s in 2015. He then relocated to Texas for the Navasota Artist Residency and spent several years as a public middle and high school teacher. In 2024 he received his MFA in Painting from Laguna College of Art + Design, where he received the Trustee’s Choice Award and was named the institution’s first postgraduate Artist-in-Residence.

He has exhibited at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum, and Oceanside Museum of Art, among other galleries across the United States. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Bakersfield Museum of Art, Laguna College of Art + Design, and Centre College.

Eric began learning diving with the Mission Viejo Nadadores upon moving to California four years ago, and he continues to train there, which informs his painting practice.