New York-based artist Eric Inkala is the subject of a homecoming exhibition in his native Minneapolis – the first time in five years that the former graffiti artist has exhibited in the city that went so far in shaping his style. Inkala emerged from the resurgent street art scene of the Twin Cities in the mid-2000s alongside the likes of Broken Crow, Ben Olsen and Drew Peterson, growing through Pop Art to contemporary art while retaining a DNA programmed by his early artistic endeavours. However his latest collection Chaos Complex marks a clear evolution in style, bringing together his figurative character with layers of text and abstract forms in reconstructed paintings and murals.
Inkala is looking forward to showing his Minneapolis fanbase how the last five years living and working in New York has influenced his work. In arriving at the finished works currently on display at Public Functionary, Inkala first went backwards, mining piles of sketchbooks filled during his time away; the artist culled details and ideas from up to a dozen sketches for each of the pieces that comprise Chaos Complex. The gallery filmed Inkala painting the exhibition’s large-scale mural and have made a time-lapse edit available if you’d like to see him at work. There are also limited edition prints available from the Public Functionary webshop. The exhibition finishes on 20 December.
Installation photography, Sharolyn B. Hagen
