Meet a Subject: Eric B Ricks

Hey there - I would like to introduce fellow readers to a number of my favorite and notable portrait subjects from over the past year. Everyone featured in this series has been either chosen because of their interesting story or background, impact on me or my photographic endeavors, or any imaginable combination of the above. This will basically be a collective shout out to a number of people that bestow upon me the honor of taking their picture, and most of them have done so on a number of occasions.

Eric B Ricks, Collaborator in Creative Mayhem

First up is DC artist Eric B Ricks; muralist, painter, mixed media sculptor and general collaborator in creative mayhem. I first met Eric under some chance circumstances back in August of 2014. Eric had been working as an apprentice under local photography legend George de Vincent, who had recently passed away after a life of seemingly endless adventure, and Eric was in the process of moving out of de Vincent's house and studio located a couple blocks away from my apartment.

When I passed by the seemingly non-descript row-house, completely unaware of its legendary status and refuge of countless DC creatives, I noticed a box of unused rolls of Kodak films left by the curb. The crew of artists Eric volunteered to help sift through the remains of de Vincent's possessions were happy to hear someone 1.still shot film and 2.would be happy to put the unused and expired films to good use. I hung out for a bit and toured the ridiculously well furnished long-time home base of de Vincent and was invited by Eric to attend an upcoming party to celebrate the house and Eric's work. 

It was to be the end of an era. Eric loved the space but had other plans for his career, so it was decided to remodel and pass ownership along to the general market. I chose to photograph the final party with a few rolls of film I originally picked from de Vincent's errant stockpile of unused supplies and wrote about the party in more detail here: Pay It Forward: Giving Back to Eric B. 

This party and meeting of Eric was crucially important to me for a number of reasons; for one Eric is a good dude and immensely talented artist; two, it was great to see the house that hosted one of the biggest photographic talents of 20th Century DC photographers; three, seeing Eric's workspace was the impetus for an ongoing, albeit dreadfully slow, personal project of mine called Artist Spaces. 

I have also continued to collaborate with Eric on a number of pursuits and projects over the past year, mostly documenting the evolution of his murals and slowly scratching the surface of DC's vibrant mural/spray culture. 

A multi-shot composite of an Eric B Ricks mural

Mural underway

Thanks for reading and be sure to follow Eric's travels and exploits on the instagrams: @versatilevice

Cheers,

Andy