Ann Erpino Fine Art

My paintings celebrate the beauty and power of nature, and the interconnectedness of all that exists. I’m as inspired by trees, animals, rocks, and flowers, as by nature’s ability to continually remix everything in cycles of growth, change, decay, and renewal.

I delved into my imagination, into dreaming, physics, languages, nature, and travel. Childhood musings around atoms and solar systems became adult musings around black holes, quark production, neurophysiology, and other hidden phenomena. My current project is a video series portraying similarities and entanglements between particle dynamics and life processes such as self assembly, neurobiology, computation, and dreaming.

Linked titles click to image descriptions

  • 'Flow' is a state in which one is hyperaware of one's surroundings, of the feel of a texture or breeze on the skin, of a warmth or chill on the shoulders, of scents and sounds, and of known or imagined pleasures or dangers. When immersed in a seamless integration of sensing and acting, with all attention on the task at hand, time is irrelevant, self-consciousness and self evaluations are absent, one can sense being part of the world, and rapture is possible.
  • Our aqueous bodies respond to forces such as breezes, the moon's pull, electrical currents, and other nearby signals. When we lead diverse lives from those of our neighbors, family, and friends, though we may live near each other, we lack the steady conditions of a common environment, diet, occupation, cause, mood, and so on. Had we those primal conditions in common, the bulk of our humors might wave or ripple or flow as the humors of one being. Perhaps we'd experience a human murmuration.
  • The ability to see objects' properties independently of their surroundings, such as recognizing parallel lines among a series of near-parallel lines, may be a function of the corpus callosum. This painting hung on a gallery wall in a dream.
  • Classic Rose - print on canvas, 18x24
  • In a lucid dream this tree fern was modeling for me, changing poses with its fronds by my telepathic cue, while I memorized the poses to paint later. I cued the treefern to change its fronds into feathers. It began to do so, but just then some people entered the scene and the tree fern, protective of its magical powers, ceased its frond-to-feather mutation.
  • An invitation
  • Khong Lo Cave - oil on masonite, 30" x 40"
  • Grounded, and Yet - print available
  • As sea levels rose, amphibians were among the first to perish en masse.
  • Outsider - print on canvas, 18x39
  • During a thunderstorm, rain fell so hard onto touchably close banana leaves outside the open window, that large raindrops bounced into the room almost horizontally.
  • Crucible - print on canvas, 36x26
  • Still Life with Mantises - oil on masonite, 16x32
  • Listen - print on canvas, 30x40
  • Calla Lillies - oil on masonite, 24x16
  • The Joker - print on canvas, 30x40
  • In this dream the water was amazingly clear.
  • Limbic - print on canvas, 20x16
  • Twilight - print on canvas
  • When people are stressed and depressed about their jobs, home lives and general lack of freedom and leisure, they can sometimes seem to be living partial deaths. Future beings could evolve into more humane societies that foster joy, meaningful contribution, arts, and personal development.
  • Mike reentered his math class to find that during his absence the other students and teacher had decorated the classroom with pictures of the white bird, which had long disturbed him.
  • Echoes – Communion Mass consists of webs of vibrations, with smaller particles enveloped by larger particles, each layer providing an energetic substrate for the next larger layer. The wave nature of matter is perceived differently by observers of different scale and sensory apparatus.
  • In a dream I had brought several items and small animals back from Bolivia. After most of them had rolled or scampered off into the landscape, an egg remained and was starting to hatch. One each of many different bird species had come, as if emissaries, to witness the emergence of this new species of bird.
  • In deep, dreamless sleep we're completely unconscious of any feelings, thoughts or emotions, or of our surroundings. This calm time away from body and mind, while mentally and emotionally protective, also renders us most physically unguarded and vulnerable.
  • Majesty - The Call - print on canvas, 22x25
  • In a dream a hole had been cut into the ceiling of my studio - a grave that opened to the outside, as if I were underground. Friends and family dropped earth and flowers into the grave, not seeming to notice my studio below.
  • During insomnia an area of my mind churned for hours, then stayed awake and conscious while another part fell asleep enough to begin dreaming. In there, flashes of light and colorful swirls coalesced into random representational forms. The forms dissipated into swirling colors and flashes, then formed again into other random objects such as a tree, a cat, a flower, and a chair.
  • We walked through these ruins looking for a comfortable place to sit and visit.
  • When a seafaring molecule is suddenly ripped apart by a great force, such as that present in a bursting bubble, an opportunity arises for the newly exposed molecular fragments and 'tails' to rebuild and repair themselves. At such a moment of restructuring, a mutation may have occurred which led to more complex molecular units becoming life or providing a basis for life. Dr. Bernard Yurke theorizes that just such an occurrence may have beget life on Earth.
  • Self assembly exists seemingly everywhere, from dust bunnies to molecules to solar systems. Life also seems to occur just about anywhere conditions permit.
  • Crucible - print on canvas, 36x26
  • Illusion - print on canvas, 30x40
  • Everything must eventually become something else. As life ends in death, so does death bring new life.
  • oil on canvas - 16" x 20"
  • Restitution - oil on masonite, 30x24
  • Orchids - oil on masonite, 13x13
  • Above and Below - oil on plywood, 23 x 32
  • watercolor
  • Grace - print on canvas, 24x18
  • From Antonio (Canaletto) Canale's original painting.
  • This painting was inspired by a scene in Luis Bunuel's film of the same name.
  • Death of a Clown - oil on canvas, 9x12
  • Wednesday - oil on masonite, 20x24
  • Painting Anecia - oil on masonite, 22x24
  • Monkey Temple at Midnight - oil on canvas, 24x18
  • Creativity and imagination generally occur in the right side of the brain, which controls the left side of the body. Artist, poets, dreamers and other right-brain-dominant people can easily feel stranded and unsupported in our left-brain-dominant culture.
  • In this nurturing and dangerous world, accidents of birth, resources, geology, climate, and other factors determine whether we flourish or wither, live or die.
  • There's a world outside, and a world inside, be it your home or your heart.
  • Oracle of Scourge - acrylic on canvas, 12x36
  • Give and Take - print on canvas, 24x48
  • Torn - oil on canvas, 24x18
  • oil on canvas - 4' x 3'
  • To find one's essence, one integrates harmoniously with the people and environment around them. They can then know their individual place within that larger essence.
  • Red and Aloe - oil on masonite, 48x24
  • Trees - print on canvas
  • oil on masonite
  • The Little Sorcerer - oil on masonite
  • In a dream, the world had become so crowded that many people had no space in which to move around. When the tide went out they moved about on the beach, going about their business, enjoying that part of their lives. When the tide came in they moved uphill, back into the town, and again there was standing room only.
  • Bolivia - oil on canvas panel, 16 x 20
  • Sillustani
  • Still Life with Feathers - oil on masonite, 26x13
  • Loom - oil on masonite, 48x24
  • oil on masonite
  • Vision - oil on masonite, 11x22
  • Groups who traditionally rival each other sometimes unite to protect themselves from a common oppressor.
  • This painting is dedicated to Mumia Abu Jamal. It's featured in Long Distance Revolutionary, by Street Legal Cinema.

Limited Edition Prints