"I didn't choose to be an artist; it chose me.  It is a calling, a religious feeling, and a compulsion to peel away layers of a subconscious onion."  This is how Eric Staller starts is book Out of My Mind.  Eric Staller is a renowned artist whose work ranges from the massive to the minute.  Among many other things, he is known for his light painting done NYC from 1974-78 as well as being a grandfather for the Art Car movement. 

     Eric has said, "Art just sat there, no sound, no movement.  And if you found it cool enough to touch it, you got yelled at."  Cool enough to touch it is an apt description of Staller's work. Tactility, interactivity, and humor are all strong elements in Staller's art.  His enthusiasm and optimism help create a feeling of potential for the person experiencing his creations.

      His light painting pictures, sculptures and installations have been well documented and disseminated.  They serve as some of the most significant inspirations for current light artists. He created his light work during a time in NYC that was wild with Studio 54 excess and bold with a sense of invulnerability. He says, "I was also becoming a night person....On the packed dance floor we moved like a hedonistic tribe, sweaty, and ecstatic.  Afterwards, as the sun was coming up, we went to an all-night diner for breakfast."

     Those moments of late night/early morning are present in his light drawings.  In the city that never sleeps Eric made light drawing pictures  that very often take place in empty urban environments devoid of people.  His images seem to be made in the folds of the city, in the places he found with his "compulsion to peel away layers of subconscious."