Gary T. Erbe

Gary T. Erbe (born 1944) is an American oil painter.^[1] He is self-taught,^[2] and he is best known for his trompe-l'œils.^[3] His work has been exhibited at the Canton Museum of Art,^[2] the Brinton Museum,^[4] the Boca Raton Museum of Art,^[5] the Heckscher Museum of Art,^[6] the Baum School of Art and the Reading Public Museum.^[3][7]

Erbe's interest in art began at a young age when he became fascinated by the illustrations in his school textbooks. Erbe's stepfather, Frank Schaefer, encouraged and supported Erbe's interest in art and bought him his first art set. When Erbe was fifteen, his stepfather died and, in the following decade, Erbe produced very little art.^[8]

At age sixteen, Erbe dropped out of school, and moved into a studio apartment in Weehawken, New Jersey. Shortly after, Erbe met Edny, whom he married in 1963. One year later, she and Erbe had their first child, Kim, and five years later had their second child, contemporary artist Chantell Van Erbé. To support his family, Erbe worked as an apprentice at an engraving company and painted in his spare time.^[9]

Erbe was particularly inspired by artists like William Michael Harnett and John F. Peto, who applied the trompe-l'œil approach to their paintings. Trompe-l'œil translates to "fool the eye", alluding to the way in which three-dimensional objects are rendered on a two dimensional surface. His work from the 60s involves assemblages of objects which have a thematic relationship with each other. Both the paintings and the assemblages which he paints are Erbe's masterpieces, and the assemblages have been included in his shows.^[10]

In 1969, Erbe explored a more contemporary method to trompe-l'œil called Levitational Realism, in which the objects in his paintings appear to be floating. In the following year, he quit his job as an engraver in hopes of becoming a full-time artist.

In 1978, Erbe and Edny split and Erbe moved into his own studio in Union City. Through a mutual friend he met Anna Vedovelli, a local artist who lived nearby. The two married in 1979 but divorced three years later.^[11]

By 1996, Erbe was married to Zeny Santos. They lived in his studio in Union City until 2006, moved to a condominium in Hoboken, New Jersey for three years, and now reside in Nutley, New Jersey.^[12]

Since 1970, Erbe's work has been exhibited extensively in group and solo exhibitions. His work is in the permanent collections of various well-regarded institutions.^[13]

In 2016, The Butler Institute of American Art published a 300-page book on Erbe entitled Footprints: The Art and Life of Gary Erbe.