“EREBOS"

 A collaboration between Evamarie Pappas and Gary Oglander

The series started as a mistake. Husband and wife Evamarie Pappas and Gary Oglander frequently collaborate, the pair met while Pappas was studying art at Ringling College of Art and Design. Pappas creates the ceramic sculptures, often organic or classical in form, and hands them over to Oglander to paint. Pappas’s process is intuitive and unconscious, “once I start, I put everything else out of my mind and let a piece become what it wants to be,” Pappas explains. Oglander paints in his signature colorful abstract style, layering and etching paints as he goes. The first piece in the Erebos collection was meant to have this same colorful style. Oglander painted layer after layer but just wasn’t happy with the results. Finally, he painted the whole piece black out of frustration and at the last minute etched in the paint to bring through some of the color. He was finally happy with the results. I bought that first piece for my own collection and urged Eva and Gary to create a series. Thus, Erebos was born. The sculptures in the series are reminiscent of classical Greek forms with a slight twist. Pappas was influenced by her Greek heritage and travels along with the works of Giacometti. Oglander’s paint and etched symbols create a contemporary sensibility that flows from a subliminal place. The etchings bring to mind ancient cave paintings. The name of the series, “Erebos,” comes from the ancient Greek word for darkness. Also considered the primordial God of Darkness in Greek creation myths, one of the first beings in existence, born of chaos: The mythological void state preceding the creation of the cosmos. A fitting name for an epic collaboration.