The transience is a central theme in the art of Eric Decastro. In his work, Decastro explores the ephemeral nature of creation by experimenting with overpainting. These are not only testimonies to his technical skills but also an expression of his quest to change the materiality of content and form as metaphors for the fleeting and impermanent.
In viewing Decastro’s works, one is inevitably confronted with the idea that everything that exists is subject to change. His images, which often create the illusion of a landscape or a space photograph, invite us to question the limits of our perception and explore the deeper meanings of life. Moreover, the viewer’s eye seeks an attempt at order in Decastro’s subject and must recognize that there is no beginning and no end. Rather, it is the complete existence of the essence of the essential. He enters a state of artificial cognitive dissonance because he must inevitably recognize: Understanding only receives the consolation prize; to comprehend the artist’s work, he must experience and feel it.
The use of light and shadow, which varies depending on the viewing angle, symbolizes the constant change to which we are all subject, but also the polar wholeness of the soul, both temporal and timeless. Khalil Gibran already wrote in his work “The Prophet” about time: “But if you must measure time in seasons, let each season encompass all other seasons. And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.”
Decastro himself, born in the picturesque region of Burgundy in France, began his artistic journey through great perfection. He especially incorporates the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism into the creation of his art, and the touch of this transience inevitably resonates. Ultimately, the symbol of the circle is continually found as a recurring principle in his works. Especially in Zen Buddhism, this motif is central, and “For Zen, the circle means enlightenment. It symbolizes human perfection.” The mandalas that appear in Buddhism also often consist only of geometric figures and are structured according to the principle of four- or eightfold division. Four functions of consciousness: thinking, feeling, intuiting, and sensing, both internally and externally. The experience of the round as an archaïque Images have always been established in the outside world as a psychological whole. During the process of viewing, one cannot help but relate the coherence of the original whole to the higher self within oneself.
With the series “Night in White Shadows,” he deals with perfect purity. This theme is immediately brought to the fore through the immaculate white images. The viewer’s gaze is directly drawn to the open space without detours. Outward movements act in his work like radiation effects, emanating from an existential core that remains untouched. The question of the spirit, which he materializes in a structure and suspects in nature, is thus directed into the open space. Hermetic movements form only a minority and push to the surface, resulting in a counterpoint vibration and yet freeing the spirit of the matter within. Meanwhile, the symbolic power almost lets the associative spaces of the heavenly spirit, which shows the wholeness in body and mind, germinate.
Decastro’s artworks are not only visually appealing but also invite self-reflection. His works are a meditation on the nature of the mind, especially seen in his work “Back from a Near Death Experience Level 1,” where Eric Decastro processed his near-death experience in 2008. His art acts like a relic, original, not of this world. His intention to increasingly elevate and depict the near-death experience into the spiritual, he has realized with these works and transferred from consciousness into matter. His art teaches us that the true nature of man is clear, unclouded by thoughts and emotions. This teaching finds an echo in Decastro’s art, which invites us to recognize the original purity and effortless emergence of all phenomena.
Transience in Decastro’s art is thus not only a theme but also a guide. It teaches us to see the beauty in the transient and to explore the deeper layers of reality. His works are a reminder that the true essence of life lies in change and transience. The slightly larger white section in the middle of one of the works in the series “Night in White Shadows” stands out particularly, but the eye also perceives the smaller white spots, the elevations making everything appear in a connectedness. Just as we as humans are always connected to everything, without consciously perceiving this fact. Everything inside also shows itself as resonance on the outside. The principle of duality: transience and permanence inevitably resonate only together. We perceive one only because we know the other. Thus, the color white is particularly highlighted on a dark background. The great deceivers are space and time, for everything always happens simultaneously. The sun and moon always appear simultaneously at both poles of the world, and we know for certain that we will always experience the interplay equally, without our active participation.
Author: Kira Weber
The artist Eric Decastro was born in the picturesque landscape of Burgundy in France and found himself in the extraordinary situation of growing up in an artist and entrepreneur family. Thus, he has internalized both sides, the creative and the economic. As a master student of Prof. Markus Lüpertz, he absorbed much of his essence and further developed this learned knowledge in his art. Moreover, his creative process is subject to continuous change, which makes him and his works so unique.
His works can be found in numerous significant collections, such as the collection of Deutsche Bank, SAL-Oppenheim, Reinhold Würth Collection Künzelsau, Eduardo Hochschild Collection Lima Peru, Inca-Cola Collection Peru/Atlanta USA, and the Reinhard Ernst Museum Wiesbaden, to name just a few of the renowned names.
Bibliography:
Gibran, Khalil: “The Prophet,” Hamburg 2023.
Jung, Carl Gustav: “Man and His Symbols,” Madrid 1991.
Lange, Dieter: “Winners are Recognized at the Start - Losers Too,” Berlin 2023.

Eric Decastro Born in Burgundy, France, grew up in a family of artists and entrepreneurs. He is a graduate of Prof. Markus Lüpertz's master class at the art academy.

His works are in numerous important collections, such as the Deutsche Bank / SAL-Oppenheim, Reinhold Würth Collection Künzelsau, Eduardo Hochschild Collection Lima Peru, Inca-Cola Collection Peru/Atlanta USA, Reinhard Ernst Museum Wiesbaden and many more.

Eric Decastro lives and works in the greater Frankfurt am Main area and near Lourmarin, Luberon / France.

E R I C D E C A S T R O

Convincing, immediately apparent - Eric Decastro's works magically draw the viewer into a color poetic, stirring or reduced clear, exclusive cosmos. Paintings that the artist, despite their sometimes exuberant abundance of form and color with his pictorial harmony masters with répétitive gestures often in a miditative state. DECASTRO deals with transience and often paints over his canvases for this purpose.

His often ironic pop art mix media such as "Hurrah, we're still alive" Green Turtle are exactly the opposite - they are made from dried paint residues that are first painted on glass, then peeled off and then put together and glued to the canvas with a matt transparent varnish.

Clearly visible in his key work Tumult. A brilliant experience over four meters that the artist is showing for the first time worldwide. An artistic as well as, with the most elaborate interference varnish on Avignon canvas up to the canvas with quadrille framing, a masterpiece of craftsmanship.

VITA ERIC DECASTRO, 1960, french artist, is educated as a screen printer, but he is mainly working as a painter.
Since 1984 he has been engaged in art, Eric has exibition together with artists such as Hermann Nitsch, Gerhard Richter, or Markus Lüpertz. In 2009 he founded the Artspace Frankfurt. He has organized exhibitions under the motto, ‘Rendez-vous des Artistes’, with curator Dr.Elmar Zorn, Prof. Ludwig Seyfarth and Dr. Danièle Perrier.
Eric Decastro is educated as a screen printer, but he is mainly working as a painter. In his mostly large-sized works he uses the dripping technique which is a contribution to the abstract expressionism. But Decastro is especially interested in the balance in the coloring and lighting of his paintings whereas the thick and impasto application of color plays a significant role. The plastic effect is increased even more by an interplay between light and shade originating from changing incidence of light. The observer is pulled into a colorful and poetic cosmos, which is intentionally designt to allow the illusion of landscapes or outer spaces.
Thematically Decastro deals with the issue of fugaciousness.
Decastro's works are represented in the Collection Deutsche Bank /SAL-Oppenheim, RE Collection, Schloss Mochental Collection, UGM Museum Maribor Art Gallery, Slovenia, Museum Villa Rot Burgrieden Germany, Torrance Art Museum California Kunstverein Heppenheim Germany, Inca-Cola collection Lima Peru Eduardo Hochschild Collection Lima, and much more.
Eric Decastro's art will be shown at the Torrance Art Museum in April 2016 amongst others like Tobias Rehberger, Gerhard Richter Ed Ruscha and at the Bronxartspace New-York USA.
Since 2019 Studying Painting and Drawing, Prof. Markus Lüpertz Academy of Fine Arts Kolbermoor, Germany
Since 2019 Studying Painting and Drawing, Reinhold Braun, Fritz Dickgiesser, Leander Kresse, Arnim Tölke
Academy of Fine Arts Kolbermoor, Germany