Meet Ernie Steiner: Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ernie Steiner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ernie, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
For me risk has been a necessity in pursuing a creative career. The trick has been balancing these risks with some aspects of stability and/or being very flexible and making adjustments on the fly.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Graffiti, skateboarding, fashion, and the atmosphere within the urban environment have been significant influences since I was young and still inform the artwork I do today. The work I do is colorful and usually blends abstract and realism. One of my main tools in creating art is an airbrush. I was initially drawn to the airbrush when painting because I was able to get many of the same painting techniques that I saw graffiti artists achieving with aerosol spray paint cans, but in a much smaller scale. It has been over 30 years since I got my first airbrush, and it is still one of my primary tools. After seeing my mural work and gallery shows increase a few years ago I founded ERS Creative Services LLC. ERS Creative Services provides fine art and mural consulting, design, and creation services for artists and businesses. I noticed that their appeared to be a divide in cultures between many business operators and studio artists. There were Landlords and businesses looking to place murals and art on their company offices and building walls but they just didn’t know how to do it. I often work with businesses to produce murals or add framed art to their walls. Along with my decades of experience as a studio artist, I also have experience working within large and mid-sized Real-Estate firms and I believe I have a strong perspective on each side. I understand the cost and liability concerns businesses have and the creative freedom artists want and can marry these effectively to produce work artists and businesses are happy with. Challenges I often face are translating art effectively into different scales while still keeping the same feeling and effects. I often get requests to render my large mural work into a small canvas and vice versa. For example, a paint drip on a small canvas is much easier to create and show spontaneously. But achieving that same paint drip effect on a thirty-foot-tall wall will often need to be approached quite differently. Just as spray painting on a large scale wall is much easier to achieve refined effects without using masking, but this just can’t be done when spray painting a small canvas. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned along the way is to listen, be patient, and live in the moment!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would spend some time downtown, check out some of the museums wether it be MOCA or the Broad, then get into the Arts District and check out some of the unique retail shops, galleries, and breweries. From there we would get some food in Little Tokyo. I’d be sure to make a trip over to Mar Vista and have a drink and check out the current art show at one of my favorite spots, ArtBar LA on Venice Boulevard. We would have to walk the beach from Venice to Santa Monica to clear the mind and refresh a bit. I always need to make a pit stop at one of my favorite breweries, Three Weavers, which is just a few steps away from my studio in Inglewood. Then probably wrap up with a hike within one of the many parks along the Santa Monica Mountain Conservatory. Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There has been countless people and resources that have been vastly helpful for me, but I definitely need to give a SHOUTOUT to my wife, Jill, as she definitely deserves some recognition and credit.

Website: www.erniesteiner.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erniesteiner/