[NoHo Arts District, CA] – Meet North Hollywood appropriation artist Eric Doeringer. Our NoHo Artist Feature is a way to highlight the visual artists who call NoHo home. And to say THANK YOU!
“Eric Doeringer is a North Hollywood appropriation artist best known for his ‘Bootleg’ series — intentionally cheap knock-offs of iconic contemporary artworks.”
1. For readers who are unfamiliar with your practice, what exactly are you making when you create one of your Bootleg paintings?
My “Bootleg” paintings are low-priced recreations of iconic works of contemporary art. In the 2000s, I was living in New York City, and I was inspired by the vendors selling counterfeit designer handbags on Canal Street. Since contemporary art is a similar expensive status symbol, I thought there might be a market for knock-offs. When I first started the project, I would sell my Bootlegs on the sidewalk outside of art galleries in Chelsea. So, you could see the “real” artwork in a gallery and then buy my version at a steep discount right outside. My Bootlegs tend to be smaller than the original works (generally under 12×12”), which made them easy to transport and helped keep the prices low. Eventually, I started exhibiting and selling my art through more traditional galleries, and I don’t set up on the street anymore. I had a small retrospective of the series at Kantor Gallery in Beverly Hills last fall
2. Can you walk us through your process from selecting an original artwork to completing your finished version?
Selecting the artwork is an important part of my process. The work needs to be instantly recognizable as a “Damien Hirst” or “Andy Warhol” painting, but also simple enough that I can reproduce it easily. I mostly recreate paintings, but have included sculpture, photography, drawing, and other media in the series. The process of making the artwork varies quite a bit, but I usually combine hand painting with some sort of “mechanical reproduction”: collage, silkscreen, or digital printing. I’ll make a batch of 6-10 copies of the “same” painting at once, so I set up an “assembly line” where I will paint all the backgrounds at the same time, then add the collage elements, and finally do a bit of overpainting. Although my Bootleg series mainly consists of paintings, I have made sculptures, drawings, photographs, and other types of art.
3. How closely do you try to replicate the original piece, and what role do differences or imperfections play in the final work?
My Bootlegs are intentionally “bad” (or “cheap”) copies of the artworks. They might fool a viewer at first glance, but they usually won’t pass close inspection. With the handbag vendors who inspired the project, I was interested in how you could spend a few hundred dollars for a very authentic-looking bag (that might even have been manufactured at the same factory as the “real” bags), a hundred dollars for a real-looking bag but with bad stitching and shoddy materials, or fifty dollars for a bag that was an obvious fake with altered or misspelled branding. My Bootlegs tend towards the “obvious fake” end of that spectrum. I make no attempt to pass off my artworks as works by the original artists (I am not a counterfeiter!) and every piece is stamped on the back with my name.
4. What criteria do you use when deciding which artists to recreate, and what makes someone the right subject for your series?
First of all, the artist has to be popular. I don’t necessarily choose my personal favorites, but rather artists who are successful in the marketplace. Occasionally, I will choose a younger artist who is attracting a lot of attention. I mainly focus on contemporary art, as there are already plenty of places to buy copies of earlier artists like Matisse or Van Gogh. After I select the artist, I have to find a work of theirs that is both iconic and simple to reproduce.
5. Which piece has been the most technically challenging for you to complete, and which one is your personal favorite?
None of my Bootleg paintings has been too difficult to make – that’s one of the factors I consider when planning new works. I also make larger “recreations” that are more similar to the original works in scale and materials. I don’t consider these to be “Bootlegs” – they are higher quality reproductions. Sometimes they can be quite challenging. Last year I made some works inspired by Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin paintings. They were really hard to correct when I made a mistake – lots of sanding!
There was also a period where I was making 3 or 4 “date paintings” (inspired by On Kawara) every week. The paintings consist only of text (requiring very precise brushwork) and each had to be made within a 24-hour period. I would often spend more than 12 hours straight working on a single painting. After a couple of months, my eyes got messed up and I had to start wearing glasses (they have since gone back to normal). At the same time, I was reenacting several of Kawara’s “life art” projects. So, every day I had to keep track of everywhere I went, the name of every person I met, and the time I got up in the morning. It was a lot to keep tabs on!
I really enjoy silkscreening – there’s a lot of “instant gratification” inherent in the process. I’ve made a bunch of Warhol-inspired silkscreen paintings: Liz, Marilyn, Elvis, Campbell’s soup cans. I even made silkscreened Brillo Box sculptures (based on the current Brillo packaging instead of the mid-60’s design Warhol used). The “Warhol” paintings are particularly fun because he had such a great sense of color.
6. What are you currently working on in your studio? Is there a new direction, exhibition, or project underway?
I have a few exhibitions opening later this year, so I’ve been busy getting ready. I am making a few new Bootleg paintings for an exhibition in Newport Beach this spring. I make a lot of artist’s books (inspired by artists like Ed Ruscha, Sol Lewitt, and Richard Prince) and will have a retrospective of my books at Arcana in Culver City in April. Finally, I’ve been making some paintings for a summer exhibition in New York that are a bit of a departure. Instead of being inspired by other artworks, they are based on “bandit signs,” the advertisements like “We Buy Houses” that are illegally posted on utility poles around the city.
7. Is there something you’d like to highlight?
Because this is a North Hollywood neighborhood publication, I will mention that I am a fairly recent transplant, having moved to Los Angeles in 2020 and North Hollywood in 2021. I previously lived my entire life in the Northeast and had been in New York City since the late 90’s. Although I miss some things about NYC (walkability!!), I love living here! The weather, sunlight, space, and access to nature are amazing! I particularly appreciate the mild winters. I have my studio in the garage of my house, which is super convenient, and it’s easy to work outside if I need to do something dusty or smelly. I am grateful for the time I spent in New York, but I’m very happy to be living here now!
Keep in Touch with Eric
https://www.ericdoeringer.com | https://www.instagram.com/ericdoeringer
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