The sight when walking into Quarters off South Sherwood Forest Boulevard last Friday night may have seemed unusual. Vintage vinyl records were laid out on folding tables, while brightly colored acrylic portrait paintings of musicians like Kendrick Lamar and Miles Davis hung above them.
The event was called Painting Sounds, featuring a pop-up record store by Lagniappe Records, music by Matsy and art by Baton Rouge native Erick Fields.
No matter what Fields got himself involved in, family and friends always told him he would make his way back to art. And at 33 years old, that’s exactly what happened.
About two years ago, Fields decided to follow his passion and make a career out of what he loves — painting. He began doing shows at Gallery Bohemia, started his own website and was a finalist for the BR Walls Project.
But the road to this point has been long. Fields spent years working at nonprofits like the Delmont Service Center, where he volunteered during his high school days.
“It’s kind of hard because, I mean, you want to survive, so you end up doing other things. But I guess it’s kind of hard to get away from it when it’s who you are,” Fields said of his years moving between jobs before settling on art.
After taking art classes in elementary school, Fields never stopped doodling. He found inspiration in the Diego Rivera murals his mom showed him, as well as old stenciled horror movie covers that he would watch on lazy Saturdays.
“[Rivera’s] stuff was so dynamic, so huge. To think one person could just get on someone’s wall and do that was amazing to me,” Fields said about the murals.
Fields later attended Southern University, where he took a design and a figure drawing class, but he kept telling himself art wasn’t something to make a living off of.
For Fields, there was never some major event or turning point in his life that told him to do what he loves — he had that support from his family and friends his entire life. What Fields needed was to become comfortable in his own artistic style.
Using acrylic paint, spray paint, charcoal and pencils, Fields does mostly still-lifes. His work includes famous musicians, major historical figures, animals and even some abstracts. Inspired by a graffiti style, Fields uses bright colors, especially for backgrounds.
The portraits also often include words, such as music lyrics or whatever is in his head, he said. With all the different layers of paint, though, sometimes the words can be hard to spot.
“There’s nothing like doing something that you actually enjoy,” Fields said of his vibrant style.
With friends in teaching and a history of work with the Love Your City program helping children paint a mural at Eden Park, Fields has considered teaching art if selling his work doesn’t pan out.
“I’d like to inspire kids like me,” Fields said. “See something and get like amazed. Like, ‘Wow, that guy really got paid to do that?’”
But Fields only wants to teach younger children — not teens.
“I know how I was when I was a teen,” Fields said with a laugh.
While some artists dream of moving away to bigger cities where the art market is more popular, Fields said he’s sticking around Baton Rouge.
“Baton Rouge is home. I feel like we can have stuff, so I want to see it develop,” Fields said.
For now, Fields is living life like many other artists: hoping to make it big. But unlike most of his fellow artists, he wants to keep it local and help a few kids along the way.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Richard Redmann

"Soul Wonder" by Erick Fields and Stevie Wonder's "Hotter than July" rest on a table on Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 for the Painting Sound exhibit at Quarters.