Artist Interview: Eric Junker
Eric Junker paints murals around the world and creates art and design for a client list that includes Louis Vuitton, Coach, Patagonia, Oculus and Target.
Why are you an artist?
That’s a big question! I guess it starts with having a mother who was an artist, and being encouraged to draw and paint and make things from a very early age. On a very basic level, I just can’t picture doing anything else. Lord knows I’ve tried. I seriously thought about law school; I’ve painted houses; I’ve worked in entertainment; I was a partner in an advertising agency, but the pendulum always swings back to art making.
What are you working on these days?
I’ve just completed my second collaboration with COACH, painting murals in support of Pride Month. I’m designing a restaurant in Santa Monica, and I have a few mural commissions lined up. I’m also preparing for a long road trip to Montana for an artist residency at the Artemis Institute in Livingston Montana. For the residency I’ll be studying the social and environmental challenges facing the Yellowstone ecosystem and exploring ways to visually communicate these challenges. I’ll also get to paint murals, fly fish, trail run, and camp. It doesn’t get much better than that :)
Can you talk about your experience participating as an artist for Comix from the Heart? What was the process like for you, and what did you make?
I’ve always enjoyed working collaboratively, which is why I’m drawn to the practice of design as much as the practice of art. I’m also a huge advocate of interdisciplinary practices and the opportunity they provide to view challenges from novel perspectives. As a teacher, I get a lot of eye-rolling from students when I insist that their general education classes are potentially THE most exciting part of their college education.
The Comix from the Heart process was right up my alley. After interviewing Dr. Steven Chen, and learning how to properly use a blood pressure monitor, I drew a comic that distilled the information into a single graphic, and hopefully, informative page.
Do you have any favorite comics?
Like many kids, I taught myself how to draw by copying comic books. At an early age, I was fascinated by my Dad’s collection of 1940’s superhero comics. To this day they appeal to me, because the drawing and storytelling has a primitive awkward quality relative to the slickness and dark convoluted storytelling that you find in contemporary Marvel comics.
In high school I discovered R. Crumb, so my drawings from that time look like bad copies of Mr. Natural and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. When I was in college, my mind was blown by RAW magazine’s gritty punk aesthetic and the work of Gary Baseman, Sue Coe, KAZ, and Art Spiegelman. My favorite comic book of all time is Hercules Among the North Americans by Mark Marek. Absolutely classic.
As an artist that often creates work through murals and street art, what role might you see this genre of graphic medicine playing in those spaces?
I think there’s a ton of potential to explore graphic medicine in murals and street art; to use street art to subvert the dark arts of propaganda towards net positive community benefit.
There’s certainly been an explosion of street art addressing health issues during the pandemic. For me, the power of street art lies in it’s power to surprise viewers by delivering visual messages in unexpected contexts. That visual ambush can deliver a message straight to the limbic brain because the viewer isn’t anticipating the message in the otherwise familiar context of the urban landscape. It’s a powerful way to present information on an emotional level, rather than an intellectual one. When it works, it’s quite effective.
Learn more about Eric Junker on his website: ericjunker.com
Follow Eric on Instagram: @ericjunker
