“Self-Promotional Piece” is a complex work, combining photographic collage, painting, decorative pattern, and typography. Some of its elements reside on the surface of the page: the pattern, the outlined inkwell, the angled highlight. However, there are also elements that provide depth: the photographed hand, the type that recedes backward using an adaptation of three-point perspective.

The phrase “CONSTRUCTIVE THOUGHT IN REPRODUCTION” is a direct reference to the Russian Constructivist style of the 1920’s. The Constructivists used the angled forms in an artistic/political effort to break traditional attitudes toward hierarchy and authority implicit in the grid structure that had been used by designers since Gutenberg.

In Eric’s case, he is demonstrating his affinity for the unusual and unconventional in the service of commercial enterprise. His use of angles and perspective in the creation of a visual irony of depth is a major undercurrent in much of his work.