Meet Clint Eccher | Painter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Clint Eccher and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Clint, what do you attribute your success to?
I would have to say how fortunate I’ve been during my 22-year painting career that much of the originality of my work has resonated with collectors. I’m not someone who respects taking another’s work, making a small change, and claiming it as your own. I respect those who create new ways of doing things that are true to them. The risk with that, though, is that they won’t like your originality.

For the first 15 years of my career, I was merely painting one-offs. Everything was original. Nothing looked the same. And I rarely did anything twice. Looking back, I think it was just that I was including parts of me in those paintings that connected with buyers, which almost always would make a piece sell faster than when I would sell out and just paint to sell.

Then came “Tiered Painting” at year 15. I created the method of painting, which involves painting a painting on top of another and using LED lights to bring out the bottom painting. I started receiving international media coverage with it, was flown to Austra to show my work, and even sold my first piece to a local philanthropist.

The problem was that I wanted a consistent style I could call my own that worked with Tiered Painting, so I decided to “land the plane” just as it was taking off and go back to the studio until I figured it out. I then spent two or three more years in the studio trying to figure things out.

Eventually, things slowly smoothed out and kind of coalesced into a consistent voice and style. I then became completely reinvigorated as if I were just beginning to paint again. What started out in Fort Collins and Windsor has now grown to start including collectors from around the county, and I believe it all has to do with staying true to the concept of creating what is true to you.

This, of course, is all the romantic part of the story. What I haven’t included was all the dry spells and rejections and failures and frustrations. All I can say to that is you have to want it more than anything. If you can do that, if you can marry your goals, if you can dedicate everything to the goal, then it will eventually work out or work out in a better way you couldn’t imagine. I remember watching an interview with Matt Damon who said when people ask him if they should take up acting, he says, “no.” His rationale is if that is enough to deter them then they will never make it anyway. I couldn’t agree with that more. My advice is to “Be original and never quit.”

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art is about freedom. Freedom from inhibitions. Freedom from constrictions. Freedom from ignorance. When seeing my work, I want the viewer’s senses and intellect to be refreshed.
To find my own freedom in my work, I must first find looseness by rewriting or removing rules, so I can paint in a consistently free, yet deliberate, way. I satisfy my affinity for abstraction with my backgrounds, while satiating my need for race-neutral figurative, drawing, and writing with my foregrounds. I reuse nearly all the paint that doesn’t make it onto a canvas by repurposing it into other paintings. I also have recently started repurposing wood as a painting surface.

I research and write content for every piece with the goal of increasing cultural and/or personal literacy of the viewer, as well as myself. I want to pass on the knowledge of great thinkers and events over time because most of the lessons still apply to a culture that is seemingly forgetting some of those lessons. Otherwise, we as humans don’t evolve, and we go back to square one and begin the cycle again.

I have always loved biographies, autobiographies, documentaries and podcasts on famous people. I love learning about what they accomplished and how they did it. If there’s one truth I’ve learned from more than four decades of such study, it’s that the most successful people don’t always see themselves as uniquely talented. Rather, they simply claim to work harder and longer than others. I’ve always related to this mentality and try to incorporate it into my everyday routine. I am either painting or thinking about painting 24/7/365.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I actually recently experienced this situation. I had a lifelong friend who was considering either moving to Fort Collins or the Pacific Northwest. I showed him the amazing trail system Fort Collins has built over the decades, whether that’s at the base of the foothills, around Horsetooth or Dixon reservoirs, or throughout all of Fort Collins. It’s where I spend a lot of my time when I’m working out and thinking about or researching my work. I also took him to my two favorite Mexican restaurants in Fort Collins – the Rio and Los Tarascos. We then walked around and saw the many shops, restaurants and bars in Old Town. I then took him to City Park, which is as close to Wash Park in Denver as it can get, which is as close to Central Park in NYC that we have in Colorado. He already knew about how amazing Crested Butte is because we grew up there together. We traveled down to Boulder for some sushi at Pearl Street, another favorite place for me in Colorado.

One thing we didn’t do, which I wished we would have was see a show at CU’s Fiske Planetarium. Being a native of Colorado, this is really a difficult question for me to answer succinctly without popping all over the state like some crazed quantum particle.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My first shoutout is to Marcy Oliver at Old Town Art and Framery in Fort Collins and to Roxana Alverez at RA Modern in Crested Butte. These two women have believed in me and my work for years, which has provided an avenue for me to sell my work much more easily. My second shoutout is to my family, which always supports me. My mom introduced me to art and taught me that you always give everything to a job and do it the right way. My dad taught me to never, never, never quit – just keep moving forward until you figure it out. And my fiance, Susie, and daughters, Mikayla, Chloe and Pip, who are always there to compliment and/or critique my work in a completely honest, open and wise way. Without their help, I would have much fewer pieces I actually like. Lol. My third shoutout is to all the people over the years, mainly in Fort Collins, Windsor and Gunnison, who have attended my shows in very generous numbers and/or who have supported me on social media. Their support has helped me garner support and collectors from the national and international level. These are the people you never forget.

Website: clinteccher.com

Instagram: @clinteccherfineart

Facebook: Clint Eccher and Clint Eccher Fine Art

Youtube: Clint Eccher Fine Art

Other: Pinterest: @clinteccherfineart