Eric Edward Esper

Collinwood School Fire, Collinwood, Ohio, 1908. Oil on Canvas, Framed

2018

After 100 years of brutal history at the Ohio State Penitentiary, the botched escape attempt of 3 prisoners caused the deaths of 322 men. On April 21, 1930, a crude wick did not start a planned (by the 3 escapees) fire in 2 empty cellblocks under construction until after 5:00 p.m. when all the prisoners were locked in their cells. At 5:53 p.m., all electrical power went out and the phones went dead. By 6:00 p.m., the roof was engulfed in flames that soon spread to the occupied cellblocks where men were burned alive while locked in their cells. The roof then collapsed, crushing the trapped prisoners. The Ohio militia and guardsmen were called to control the prisoners, but the local fire department was not called until it was too late to control the fire, which blazed until 7:30 p.m. There were many accounts of the heroic efforts of the prison guards, and prisoners alike, who risked their lives attempting to save others. But, unfortunately, in a structure designed to imprison men like this, rescue was difficult. Eric Edward Esper The Ohio State Penitentiary Fire of 1930, 2018 oil on canvas 26h x 34w in 66.04h x 86.36w cm FRAMED DIMENSIONS 30.50h x 38w in EEE009 Eric Edward Esper After obtaining my BFA in Illustration from Northern Michigan University in 1996 I relocated to Chicago to pursue my artistic endeavors. Here, I began exclusively oil painting and have assembled a body of paintings chronicling scenes of Chicago done primarily in plein air. Capturing parts of the city’s landscape during its cultural evolution had been my way of conveying history as a painter. My fascination with landscapes and history has led me to create oil paintings of scenes that have affected us in dramatic ways. Recently I have begun painting aerial views of locations that have interesting historical significance, encapsulating true stories that are hard to imagine and harder to forget. My latest paintings capture these places and depict them with historically accurate attention to detail. Using various sources I recreate these scenes with as many photographs of every angle of the incident and research the stories, submersing myself in the event. My newest body of paintings depicts events with a more historically tragic significance, depicting scenes of the darkest hours in America’s Midwest history, where the landscape became the backdrop for tragedy and calamity. These events that irrevocably altered so many lives are important to remember, not only for the people lost and how it affected our culture, but also to remind us that disaster can occur at any time, anywhere. Eric Edward Esper EDUCATION 1995 BFA, Illustration, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan SELECT EXHIBITIONS 2013 Chicago Catastrophes, Conflagrations, and Calamities, Solo show, Linda Warren Projects, Chicago, Illinois 2012 Group show, Metropolitan Capital Bank, Chicago, Illinois 2012 Ten year anniversary show, Sulzen Fine Art Studio, Chicago, Illinois 2010 Group show, Concordia University, River forest, Illinois 2009 Holiday Show, Sulzen Fine Art Studio, Chicago, Illinois 2008 Somewhere, Elsewhere, Group show, Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 2008 Scene in Chicago, Group show, Judy Saslow Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 2007 Holiday Show, Sulzen Fine Art Studio, Chicago, Illinois 2007 Cityscapes, Solo Exhibition, Oculus Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 2006 Solo exhibition, Meztli Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 2005 Around the Coyote 2005, Biannual Art Festival, Chicago, Illinois 2004 Chicago Art Open 2004, Chicago Artists' Coalition annual exhibit. Chicago, Illinois 2004 Chicago Images, Group show, Frederick Baker Inc. Chicago, Illinois 2004 Around the Coyote Winter Festival, Curator's Choice Show, Biannual art festival, Chicago, Illinois 2003 Landscape Unlimited, Group show, Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 2002 Chicago Art Open 2002, Chicago Artists' Coalition annual exhibit, Chicago, Illinois 1998 Shoe Show, Group show, Ariana Gallery, Royal Oak, Michigan 1998 Art and Design Alumni Exhibit, Lee Hall...

Sunset is a study in incandescent atmosphere, where the sky ignites in deep reds and oranges that spill downward toward the darkening trees. Aeling’s sensitivity to transitional light—particularly dawn and dusk—was honed both on the Great Plains and during his surfing winters in Hawaii, where he spent countless hours watching the sun drop behind the ocean. Here, the fiery illumination feels both immediate and eternal, a reminder of his fascination with the emotional temperature of the sky. The silhouetted treeline grounds the composition, giving the viewer a point of stability amid the sky’s turbulence. Jeff Aeling Sunset oil on panel 8h x 10w in 20.32h x 25.40w cm JAE024 Jeff Aeling (1958–2025): The Sky Remembers Through Jeff Aeling’s eyes, the landscape becomes a world shaped as much by air as by earth. In works such as North of Las Vegas, NM and Pond Near St. Cloud, MN, he balances the quiet structure of plains and wetlands with skies alive in constant motion. His mastery of atmosphere is unmistakable in Light Pillars (2023) and Light Pillar (2023), where rare optical events turn night into architecture. Even intimate scenes like Crabapple, Dogwoods, and Red Bud find their emotional power under skies that lend the land its shifting character. Aeling’s winters in Hawaii deepened his sensitivity to movement and weather. Surfing taught him to read the rhythm of the ocean, a knowledge reflected in Wave, Kauai (2018), where a breaking wave becomes a luminous wall of force. In Volcano (2023), he channels the islands’ elemental drama, linking fire, vapor, and sky through the same atmospheric vocabulary found in his plains paintings. Though often compared to American landscape painters like Church and Bierstadt, Aeling’s work engages modernity in subtle ways. He began his paintings with the camera—driving for hours to capture a fleeting alignment of cloud, light, and terrain. In the studio, he removed all traces of people or infrastructure, preserving the landscape as a pure, uncontrollable presence. This blend of tradition and contemporary practice allowed him to honor the past while speaking clearly to the present. Together, these works—whether a crashing wave, a blooming tree, a volcanic plume, or a column of winter light—form a portrait of the world as Aeling experienced it: vast, luminous, and alive with change. The Sky Remembers is both a tribute and an invitation to see the land with the reverence he carried throughout his life. Jeff Aeling (1958-2025) Iowa City, IA Represented in Chicago by Gallery VICTOR Education BFA, Painting and Printmaking, Kansas City Art Institute – Kansas City, MO School of the Art Institute of Chicago – Chicago, IL Solo Exhibitions 2016 Philip Slein Gallery - St. Louis, MO William Havu Gallery - Denver, CO 2015 Perimeter Gallery - Chicago, IL Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art - Kansas City, MO 2014 J Mark Sublette Gallery - Tucson, AZ Philip Slein Gallery - St. Louis, MO 2013 Perimeter Gallery - Chicago, IL Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art - Kansas City, MO 2012 Philip Slein Gallery - St. Louis, MO William Havu Gallery - Denver, CO 2011 Philip Slein Gallery - St. Louis, MO Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art - Kansas City, MO 2010 Perimeter Gallery - Chicago, IL Richard Demato Fine Arts Gallery - Sag Harbor, NY William Havu Gallery - Denver, CO 2009 J Mark Sublette Gallery - Tucson, AZ Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art - Kansas City, MO 2008 Perimeter Gallery - Chicago, IL William Havu Gallery - Denver, CO 2007 J Mark Sublette Gallery - Santa Fe, NM Philip Slein Gallery - St. Louis, MO Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art - Kansas City, MO 2006 Tory Folliard Gallery - Milwaukee, WI William Havu Gallery - Denver, CO 2005 Lisa Kurts Gallery - Memphis, TN Perimeter Gallery - Chicago, IL 2005 Philip Slein Gallery - St. Louis, MO Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art - Kansas City, MO 2004 J Mark Sublette Gallery - Santa Fe, NM William Havu Gallery - Denver, CO 2003 J Mark Sublette Gallery - Tucson, AZ Lisa Kurts Gallery - Memphis, TN Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art - Kansas City, MO 2002 J Mark Sublette Gallery - Santa Fe, NM Perimeter Gallery - Chicago, IL Perimeter Gallery - New York, NY 2001 J Mark Sublette Gallery - Tucson, AZ J Mark Sublette Gallery - Santa Fe, NM Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art - Kansas City, MO 2000 Charlene Cody Gallery - Santa Fe, NM Perimeter Gallery - Chicago, IL Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art - Kansas City, MO 1999 Charlene Cody Gallery - Santa Fe, NM Elliot Smith Contemporary Art - St. Louis, MO Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art - Kansas City, MO 1998 Charlene Cody Gallery - Santa Fe, NM Elliot Smith Contemporary Art - St. Louis, MO Leedy-Voulkos Art Center Gallery - Kansas City, MO Perimeter Gallery - Chicago, IL 1996 Grand Arts - Kansas City, MO 1994 Gallery V - Kansas City, MO 1993 Sean Kelly Gallery...

This painting by William Waithe depicts a teachers strike, possibly the infamous teachers' strike in 1970 by Newark teachers which at the time was the longest teachers' strike in the...

An accomplished American Scene painter, Clyde Singer successfully captured everyday life during his long career. A unique aspect of American life is depicted in this painting, entitl...