Educator Introductiion: Eric Daigh: Happineess is a TTarget Decem
mber 4, 2011 –
– April 1, 201 2 Eric Daigh is a portraait artist living in Traverse Citty. His career aas an artist chaanged significantly when he won acclaim
m in 2009 by takking 3rd place in the inaugurral ArtPrize competition
n, held in Grannd Rapids, Mich
higan. Since th
hen, Daigh has gone on to group and solo
o exhibitions nnationwide, inccluding commisssioned works and collections acquisitio
on. Daigh went to Centrral High Schooll. He studied EEnglish at the U
University of Montaana in Missoula. Claimiing to be a pho
otographer som
metimes and aa painter at oth
hers, Daigh is probably best placed
d in the categoory of mosaic. His works ofteen include an arranggement of smaall pixels, most notably pushp
pins, which forrm a larger pictture. Online Resourcess •
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•
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Erric Daigh’s web
bsite: http://d
daigh.com/ Happiness is a TTarget installation in process at the Dennoss, video by the Record‐Eagle: utube.com/watch?v=hMmwD
Dvm1LGQ htttp://www.you
Erric Daigh featured on CBS Sunday Morning: http://youtu .be/f4QjNHzQ
QiKQ Erric Daigh featured on mynortth.com: http:///www.mynorthh.com/My‐Norrth/Decemberr‐2011/Video‐
In
nterview‐with‐N
Northern‐Mich
higan‐Artist‐Eriic‐Daigh/ THE HA
APPINESS ISS A TARGEET EXHIBITION om the very be
eginning of Da igh's career in pushpins, as w
well as recent w
work Happinesss is a Target feaatures work fro
involving sculptural instaallations and street art. Daigh write
es of his work and this exhibition: In my workk I aim to explo
ore themes of iindividuality an
nd representattion. My subjeccts are imprisoned, diluted, marginalizzed. Their escap
pe, however, iss imminent. Wheether a symptoom of corporatte and social ho
omogenization
n, or the ffour base pairss of DNA, we aare products off just a small ha
andful of va
ariables. In fivee colors of plasstic, you can bee reproduced.
I enjjoy very much making sometthing digital wiith my hands. II enjoy makking work that requires a phyysical proximityy. I enjoy the fa
act thatt this work travvels from the inntangible, the binary, to the tacttile, the singulaar. By in
nvoking these mediums, I hope to generatee a dialogue an
nd senttiment that hass something too do with the ef
effort, repetitio
on, focu
us, discipline, aabsurdity, and llove that wentt into its makin
ng. Ultim
mately, then, I I hope those thhemes come cra
ashing through
h the hum
man in front of you, and spill oover onto thosse you're stand
ding nextt to, those you know and thoose you have yeet to know. I ho
ope you spend more tiime staring at ppeople's faces and that you ffeel som
mething in the pprocess. Pro
ocess and Materials
Whe
en creating a ppushpin portrait, Daigh begin
ns by photographing his ssubject. He theen utilizes digital imaging sofftware to breaak the imagge down to as few elements as possible, w
while maintainin
ng som
me amount of ddetail when vieewed from a diistance. He theen usess the software to create a griid that maps out, line by linee, the sequ
uence of pins i n each color. Then pins are applied to a bo
oard by h
hand. A single portrait can co
onsist of 25 – 1
100,000 pins, varyying widely duee to the size off the work. Daiggh uses only fivve colors of pin
ns to create hiss portraits: white, blacck, red, yellow,, and blue. Daigh started witth pushpins purcchased from Sttaples, which h
he would sort b
by color and th
hen use,, but now workks directly with
h pin manufactturers to orderr pre‐
sortted yellow, redd, blue, white, aand black pins. This allows h
him to conttrol the exact hhue of the pinss and to maintain consistency in size and color. Hee orders the pin
ns from manuffacturers in China, in large quantities (s everal thousan
nd at once). Bea
anball For the exhibitionss at the Denno
os, Daigh did a site‐specific instaallation in the sculpture courrt entitled, Bea
anball. For thiss worrk, he used spraay paint and sttenciled directly on the gallery walll. He was influuenced by streeet artists such as Bansky. The boy feattured is Eric Daaigh’s son. Thee first step wass to tape off the recttangles on the wall. Then he applied the sttencil to each recttangle, using neewsprint to co
over blank or allready painted spaces and
d protect them
m from spray paaint.