‘Gary T. Erbe: Master Of Levitational Realism’

Of the latter, one of the more profound statements in Erbe's oeuvre is "The Pressure of Time," 1970. Created in response to the suicide of a childhood friend, the painting depicts a weight suspended within a metal frame fastened with a razor blade and hovering over a ticking clock. In the background, the premonition of the fallen weight is realized. The visual sums up Erbe's statement that "Suicide is not a spontaneous act."

On a lighter note, he also plays to the personal mythology of those who commission. "Art, Craft and Leisure," 1993, a work for David Rago of Rago Arts, Lambertville, N.J., brings to life the well-known auctioneer's interests. Editions of Gustav Stickley's The Craftsman pair with an American Arts and Crafts vase, cookbook, tennis racket, a Grateful Dead album and a video of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious.

It is Erbe's extreme attention to detail that gives a commanding presence to the inanimate figures. Douglas A. Fairfield, curator of art at the Albuquerque Museum, notes in the catalog accompanying "Gary T. Erbe: 40-Year Retrospective," "The overlapping of shapes and forms that visually push and pull and challenge the viewer to conceptually complete the picture owe much to Picasso and Braque." Fairfield also notes the influence of Surrealism, with "a nod particularly to René Magritte."

That would be a good review for any academically trained artist or one who came up through the apprentice system. For the self-taught Erbe, the accolade speaks to his immense talent and his unfailing discipline to put in 14-hour days, experiment with color, line and technique and then, when all is done, to step back and critique his own work.

Erbe's artistic life began when he was 8 or 9 with his stepfather, Frank, encouraging him to work in watercolors. When his stepfather died at the age of 45, Erbe, then 15, suffered a debilitating loss. He soon left home to live on his own. Barely supporting himself as a deli clerk, he suppressed his desire to make art. Eventually, the void that festers within the soul of the creatively gifted drove him to pick up a few Grumbracker tubes.

Working by day as an apprentice engraver, Erbe painted at night and on the weekends, viewing each project as an art lesson. During marathon sessions at the easel, he learned "about color, medium, preparing canvas." Within five years of picking up a brush, Erbe was self-employed, with a wife and two young children to support.

A 1965 photo of the artist on the inside cover of the Salmagundi catalog captures a James Dean-like hero standing before the easel. His sleeves rolled up to the biceps, Erbe grasps the easel leg with his right hand and lays in the sandy beach of a seascape with his left. The phase, while a necessary step in his artistic maturation, was short-lived once Erbe discovered William Harnett. His overactive mind was seduced by trompe l'oeil. He found it both challenging and fulfilling, but thought Harnett's and John Frederick Peto's subject matter limiting.

Although he has riffed on traditional trompe l'oeil themes, such as the violin in "Virtuoso," 1982, and "The Yellow Boat," 1996, Erbe's works are informed by Cubism and Modern art. "I was challenged to integrate Modern art into Realism," Erbe said in a recent interview. "Fortunately, I happen to love challenges."

To call that an understatement is to know nothing about Erbe's process. Although he has reduced his schedule to seven- or eight-hour stints, he still works daily. He is in the studio at 5 or 6 am, planning the entire day. "I work on two or three paintings at a time. The technique is very complex, so within a year's time, four or five paintings are finished." Some very large paintings, like "The Night Before Christmas," 52 by 59 inches, which features a blue cupboard filled with at least 59 individual images of toys, not to mention the details of the cabinet itself, took 16 months, from 1992 to 1993, to complete.

Each painting begins as a concept. "From the mind to the canvas," Erbe is fond of saying. The process begins in earnest with an assemblage of three-quarter-inch plywood the size of the finished work. It is usually complete with all the figures, colors and intricacies he envisions in the final opus. A construction can often take a month or more as he works out compositional problems. As soon as it is right, the construction is mounted on a wall where it becomes subject to lighting and shadows. At that point, Erbe creates a master drawing on paper. Then he moves on to a painting. "The painting is going to be more intense, because I make changes as I go along."

Erbe's formula for using trompe l'oeil in a completely modern format, often including nonrepresentational images, won him an almost instant audience. The year was 1971. The place, a five-day exhibit in South Jersey. Erbe was still struggling and could not afford a hotel room, so he made the hourlong drive home every night.

On the last day of the show, a fellow artist said he was not going back; it was too much for him. Erbe almost fell into the same trap but decided to go anyway. At the 11th-hour on the last day of the show, a gentleman asked him which of the paintings he considered his best. Erbe pointed to the one on the easel. The collector asked the price. Erbe said $4,000. The buyer paid cash and when Erbe delivered the painting, the collector bought several works in progress, sight unseen.

His large "Composition in Red, White and Blue," 1975, 72 by 112 inches, is a tribute to the varieties of American flag. On closer inspection, the painting reveals presidential portraits and a linear image of what appears to be a peace symbol. It is a tour de force of nationality, the largest trompe l'oeil ever done on an easel. It, too, was purchased sight unseen.

Another heroic-scale piece is "Baseball Album." The 2003 image captures highlights of the sport as far back as the Nineteenth Century, although its focus is on the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates. That was the season Bill Mazeroski hit clinched the World Series against the New York Yankees with a home run. Representational and yet inclusive of artistic liberties, such as the cornflakes box with Erbe-inspired packaging, the work is an appreciation of the effort required to make it in the "Big Show," whether that show is performed on the baseball diamond, in the corporate or Oval office or in the art world. The year the Butler Institute of American Art acquired "Baseball Album," it honored Erbe with the Butler Medal for Lifetime Achievement in American Art.

Closer to home, baseball fans will appreciate the detail in "Baseball Album," on loan from the Butler, and "Subway Series," 2008, both in the Salmagundi retrospective. "Those Amazin' Mets," 2005–2006, is on view at the Steuben Gallery exhibition.

Over the years, Erbe has broken rules of trompe l'oeil and invented new ones. He has underscored the fact the much of his work since the 1970s has less to do with the tenets of trompe l'oeil and more to do with the process of creative discovery. Among these are his winter scenes.

For these, Erbe creates a flat landscape and in the foreground interjects images. In "Winterscape," 1997, which features a man in the background and a jackrabbit in the foreground, he used the prepainting construction to work out the details. By creating a bunny of chipboard, painting it and attaching it one-half-inch from the construction, he was able to determine its effect on the canvas.

Erbe has also mastered techniques for including humans in his still lifes. For indicating the human presence, he often uses a glove. For representational figures, a silhouette suffices.

Erbe commented that unlike books or movies, which have a beginning, middle and end — opportunity enough to capture and engage — a painting either instantly succeeds or it does not.

Erbe may believe that statement, but for people who have stood in front of his works of Levitational Realism wondering how he does it, his success rate is phenomenal.

"Gary Erbe: 40-Year Retrospective" travels from the Salmagundi Club to the Boca Raton Museum of Art (September 8–November 8). It has just also been announced that his works will be included in the Brandywine Museum's tribute to trompe l'oeil in fall 2010.

The Salmagundi Club is at 47 Fifth Avenue; for information, www.salmagundi.org or 212-255-7740. The Steuben Gallery is at 667 Madison Avenue; for information, www.steuben.com or 866-865-8449.