About Eric Millikin, conceptual activist new media artist in Detroit, exploring the boundaries of art, science, and the occult. Includes biography, exhibitions, and bibliography.
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Séance Affliction: Self-Portraits while Possessed by Ghosts
You may have heard of science fiction, but I am cursed with a Séance Affliction.
I am a descendent of Mary Eastey, one of the women killed during the Salem Witch Trials, and I create a series of "Séance Afflicition" self-portraits while possessed by ghosts as a reminder of how strongly the dead still influence the living. Each portrait is created in a trance-like state, with the help of a team of zombie computers, using machine learning, convolutional neural networks, reverse image recognition, DeepDreaming, and other home brew occult computer sciences. Each portrait shows roughly half of my face, half of the ghost of a dead historical figure, in the style of a dead artist, created on the anniversary of their death.
The good news is now when someone asks you what your favorite artistic medium is, you can say "Eric Millikin is my favorite artistic medium."
Danger Beasts
Danger beasts is a series of portraits of endangered animals created with endangered plants. The plants I am using are from my venus flytrap breeding program and tissue culture lab.
Buy a print of "Danger Beast: Harambe"
Awesome Editorial Artwork
A collection of editorial artwork that I have created.
Made of Money
My series to remind us that our best people aren't always rewarded with wealth, and that our wealthiest people aren't always our best.
Hottest Trending Self-Portraits
Series of self-portraits as "most popular fictional character, in a style inspired by the most popular artist, with most popular quote by most popular human being."
September 2017
This data-driven self-portrait is based on my meticulous study into the most popular internet research trends, news consumption, music sales, airplay, and movie box office revenue of two weeks in September, and the results pretty much perfectly capture September 2017.
March 2016:
Self-Portrait as The Punisher, with quote from Donald Trump, in the style of the Unfinished portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
February 2016:
Self-Portrait as Marvel Comics' Negasonic Teenage Warhead, in a style inspired by the chimpanzee artist Pierre Brassau who fooled art critics, with quote by Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
January 2016:
Self-Portrait as Deadpool, in a style inspired by Indian painter Amrita Sher-Gil, with quote from David Bowie.
December 2015:
Self-Portrait as Superman villain Doomsday, in a style inspired by performance artist Yoko Ono, with quote from Solomon Northup, author of 'Twelve Years a Slave.'
March 2015:
Self Portrait as Marvel Comics The Vision, in a style inspired by English botanist and photographer Anna Atkins, with a quote by award-winning-award-show-interrupter Kanye West.
January 2015:
Self-portrait as Marvel Comics Ant-Man, in a style inspired by "Big Eyes" painter Margaret Keane, with quote by 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle.
Witch Hunt
I am a descendant of Salem Witches; my great-grandmother about 13 generations back, Mary Eastey, was executed Sept. 22, 1692 and her sister Rebecca Nurse was executed July 19, 1692. Their mother, Joanna Blessing Towne, had been accused of witchcraft years earlier.
For this year's 325th anniversary of the Salem Witch Trials, I've created Salem Witch-related artwork, based on flowers and leaves of the following plants: The "Bog Witch" Sarracenia pitcher plant, the "Witch's Wand" Iris, the "Green Wizard" Venus Flytrap, and the "Bewitching Eyes" and "Salem Witch" Hemerocallis.
I AM HERE TO HELP Donald Trump understand what a Witch Hunt actually is.
BLACKWORDS: Great Words of Black History
Portraits of historical figures using their own words.
"Good Trouble," all-action portrait of John Lewis. For the last few years I've been drawing portraits of great black leaders entirely with their own words from their great speeches. I wanted to draw a portrait of John Lewis for this series, and while Lewis has given some great speeches, he's also been arrested at least 45 times for getting into "good trouble" in the nonviolent struggle for justice, from sit-ins at segregated lunch counters to Freedom Riders to protests against apartheid and genocide in Darfur. And then some fool went and called John Lewis "all talk," and so I made this portrait to honor John Lewis for having the courage to step up when necessary and being pretty much "all action."
Portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made entirely from the words to his "I Have A Dream" speech, 30 feet wide and 10 feet high, LED.
"Hope Over Fear" portrait of Barack Obama created using the words to his first inaugural address.
"American Dream" portrait of Michelle Obama created from the words to her speech at City College of New York, her last commencement address as First Lady of the United States.
"Any Means Necessary" portrait of Malcolm X.
"I Have a Dream" portrait of Martin Luther King Jr.
Portrait of Harriet Tubman created from the words to the song "Bound for the Promised Land," a version of which she sang as a code while escaping and rescuing other enslaved people along the Underground Railroad.
Portrait of Frederick Douglass created from the words to his "The Hypocrisy of American Slavery" speech.
Portrait of Sojourner Truth drawn from the words to her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech.
Portrait of Ruby Bridges, who was the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana during the 20th century, when she was escorted to school by U.S. Marshalls on Nov. 14, 1960.
Words here are from her quote "My message is really that racism has no place in the hearts and minds of our children," as well as the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, which declared "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
Portrait of civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo using the words she had told a friend, "You and I are going to change the world," and from her FBI files, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
Viola traveled from her home in Detroit, Michigan to Selma, Alabama to assist and participate in the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches. Afterward, she was shot dead by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
"Sting Like A Bee" portrait of Muhammad Ali, drawn from the some of his greatest words. Like:
"I done wrassled with an alligator
I done tussled with a whale
I done handcuffed lightnin',
Throwed thunder in jail ...
Only last week I murdered a rock,
Injured a stone,
Hospitalized a brick.
I'm so mean I make medicine sick ..."
"Purple Haze" portrait of Jimi Hendrix.
Portrait of Miles Davis created from the titles of his songs.
“It's not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.”
“Do not fear mistakes. There are none. ”
“When you’re creating your own shit, man, even the sky ain’t the limit.”
"Miles Ahead" is the title of his 1957 album.
Portrait of Prince created with lyrics from the song "Purple Rain."
Street Portraits
Drawn in one continuous line
Portrait of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, drawn in one continuous line through the streets around Dallas, starting in the suburb of Balch Springs where police fired three rifle rounds into the car Edwards was riding in while it was driving away, shooting Edwards in the head and killing him on April 29, 2017.
Portrait of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Detroit, starting from where she was asleep on the couch after midnight May 16, 2010, and shot in the head during a no-knock SWAT raid being filmed for a reality TV show, over across town to the church where her funeral was held, to the cemetery where her body is buried, and to the court house where two trials for involuntary manslaughter both ended in mistrials.
Portrait of Renisha McBride, drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Dearborn Heights west of Detroit, starting from where she crashed her car into a parked vehicle, over to where she knocked on someone's door asking for help, but the homeowner thought she might be trying to break in so he shot her in the face and killed her on November 3, 2013.
Portrait of Terence Crutcher drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma, starting from Tulsa Community College where he was studying music appreciation, over across Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, and ending where his car broke down and he was shot and killed in the street, September 16, 2016.
Portrait of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Cleveland, through the spot where he was shot by police while playing with a toy gun in a park near his home, past where he died in the hospital, past about a half dozen cemeteries where he wasn't buried for 6 months because the medical examiner still had his body, and past the homes of many of the taxpayers who will pay the $6 million wrongful death settlement.
Portrait of Michael Brown drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, starting from the high school he had recently graduated from, over to where he stole some smokes from a convenience store, down the street to where a police officer first thought unarmed Michael Brown "looks like a demon," then down that street where the officer hit Brown with about 6 of about 12 shots he fired, to where Michael Brown died in that street.
Portrait of Philando Castile drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Falcon Heights, Minnesota, a suburb of St. Paul, starting from where he was shot and killed during a traffic stop.
Portrait of Eric Garner, drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Staten Island, New York, starting from the point where he was put in a choke hold, where he repeated "I can't breathe" eleven times, past the hospital where he was pronounced dead an hour later, and past the homes of many of the taxpayers who will pay the $5.9 million wrongful death settlement.
Portrait of Sandra Bland, drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Waller County, Texas, starting outside her new job at Prairie View A&M University, down University Drive where she was pulled over for failure to signal a lane change on July 10, across underneath Plantation Lake, and ending at Waller County Jail, where she was held alone in a cell, and where she died three days after being stopped over a turn signal, her death classified as a suicide.
Portrait of Samuel DuBose, drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Cincinnati, starting from where he was stopped for driving without a front license plate, up Liberty St., up Freeman Ave, up Dr Martin Luther King Dr., to the Church of the Living God where they held his funeral because the police officer shot Samuel DuBose in the head.
Portrait of Freddie Gray, drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Baltimore, through the spots where he was stopped, put in a police van, and where he died, just a couple blocks away from MLK Blvd.
Portrait of Alton Sterling drawn in one continuous line through the streets of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, starting from the parking lot of Triple S Food Mart where he was fatally shot, through the streets where hundreds have protested, up Interstate 110, through the Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway.
United Statements
Portrait with stars and stripes of Lori Piestewa (Dec. 14 1979 — March 23, 2003), the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving in the US military.
Piestewa was killed in action after coming under fire in an ambush in Nasiriyah, Iraq. She is survived by her son who was 4-years-old at the time of her death, her daughter who was 3-years-old at the time of her death, her mother who is Mexican-American, and her father who is a member of the Hopi tribe and who served in the Vietnam War. One of her grandfathers served in World War II. Lori Piestewa was awarded the Purple Heart and the Prisoner of War Medal, and posthumously promoted from Private First Class to the rank of Specialist.
According to the Army, Native Americans have served in the Army in every war in America's history, as well as during peacetime. 25 Native Americans have received the nation's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor.
Portrait with stars and stripes.
No hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here.
Painted during the Women's Marches weekend.
"Fight." For every American who believes in fighting for what is right, even when we're not sure which way is up, even when we've got to fight in multiple directions, we've got this if we fight together, "Fight."
Butterfly Effects 2017
Tribute portraits made of butterflies.
In chaos theory, "the butterfly effect" holds that the flapping of the wings of a distant butterfly can change the outcome of a hurricane. If a butterfly can affect a hurricane, then imagine how great of an effect the life these people can have on the world, or that you or I can.
Butterfly Effects
Tribute portraits made of butterflies.
In chaos theory, "the butterfly effect" holds that the flapping of the wings of a distant butterfly can change the outcome of a hurricane. If a butterfly can affect a hurricane, then imagine how great of an effect the life these people can have on the world, or that you or I can.
Buy a print of "Butterfly Effect: Prince"
Forgotten Atmospheres
Series of data-driven abstract art about people who are too often forgotten.
Think of the largest area of this painting as the almost 8,035 veterans who die from suicide each year. That is 12 times the combined number who died each year in the wars in Iraq (513, the thick line at bottom) and Afghanistan (171, the thin line at bottom). That is about 22 per day.
If you spend about an hour thinking about this, in that time another veteran will have died from suicide.
A veteran is more than twice as likely to die from suicide than a member of the general population.
This is a painting about people who were shot and killed, and too often forgotten.
Think of the entire area of this painting as a year's worth of people killed by guns in the US. The smallish yellowish area, about a third of the painting toward the bottom, are the people killed in gun homicides, including the mass shootings, terrorist attacks and police shootings that seem to dominate our conversations. The thin yellowish line at the bottom is roughly the number of people killed by accident with a gun. All of these are tragedies.
But the largest area at the top, about 2/3s of the painting, is the roughly 2/3s of all gun deaths which are suicides. If we truly believe that "All Lives Matter," we would probably spend twice as much time talking about gun suicides as we do homicides.
If you spend just 25 minutes looking at this painting and thinking about this today, in that time someone in the US will have shot and killed themselves.
This is a painting about people who are victims of rape and sexual assault who are too often forgotten.
Think of the entire area of this painting as every rape and sexual assault committed in America in a single year.
That small, thin blue/green line at the bottom -- only roughly a tiny .6% of this painting -- those are the only attacks where the perpetrator is ultimately sent to jail.
Those are some incredibly small odds. And sometimes, after a victim somehow beats those odds, that rapist is only sent to jail for 6 months for raping an unconscious woman if the rapist is on the swim team at Stanford.
On average, there are 288,820 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault every year in the United States.
If you spend just 2 minutes looking at this painting and thinking about this today, in that time another person will be raped or sexually assaulted in America.
This is a painting about people of the Muslim faith who are too often forgotten.
Think of the entire area of this painting as the last 13 years. The large yellow/green area at the bottom, over half of the painting, that's the 7 of the last 13 years when a Nobel Peace Prize was given to a person of the Muslim faith.
These are people we should be talking more about.
Notice that the colors of paint that I've used for the Muslims and non-Muslims in this painting, yellow/green and blue/green? They're really not that different from each other.
These are those Nobel Peace Prize winners: Shirin Ebadi of Iran (2003), Mohamed ElBaradei of Egypt (2005), Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh (2006), Tawakkol Karman of Yemen (2011), Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan (2014), and the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (2015).
Making History
Every Republican and Democratic presidential nominee from every election year, by race and gender.
Portrait of Hillary Clinton that I created from the words to her speech accepting her nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
"When there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit."
Totally Sweet Halloween Candy Monsters
Monsters created with Halloween candy.
The iconic bride of Frankenstein made out of Halloween candy.
Vincent Price (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993), shown here in a "Totally Sweet" portrait I made out of Halloween candy.
Here's a TOTALLY SWEET alien, from the movie "They Live," that I built out of Halloween candy.
"They Live" is a 1988 John Carpenter film.
The Undertaker, in a totally sweet portrait I've made out of Halloween candy.
Here's a Wizard of Oz flying monkey portrait I've made out of Halloween candy.
Last night, I was trying to get a head start on this year's Totally Sweet Halloween candy monster portraits, when I heard about Robin Williams. I wasn't exactly sure I'd show this to anyone, and I'm not exactly sure, and don't exactly care, where this fits on the official spectrum of acceptable expressions of facebox emotion.
Cthulu from H. P. Lovecraft's horror stories.
Motor City Witch Trials
"Motor City Witch Trials" is based on some of the most bewitching people I've met here in Detroit, the city where everyone is always being judged.
The quotes are from those who were executed during the Salem Witch Trials, including some from Mary Eastey, my grandmother from about 13 generations back, who was executed Sept. 22, 1692.
Election 2016 Endurance Painting Challenge
It took a great deal of endurance to paint all of the presidential candidates.
My Drinking Problem: Vernor's 150th Birthday Celebration
I drank 150 cans of Vernor's for their 150th birthday.
Hollywood Witch Trials
"Hollywood Witch Trials" is a series of portraits based on celebrity crime mug shots and excerpts from Salem Witch Trial transcripts.
About 72 people were accused and tried of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. My own grandmother from about 13 generations back, Mary Eastey, was among the last people executed for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.
Andre The Giant
This portrait of Andre the Giant is based on his mug shot after he was arrested for putting a TV cameraman in a headlock in Iowa in August 1989.
The quote here is from Giles Corey, who was pressed to death under heavy stones in an attempt to get him to enter a plea after being accused of witchcraft. He died after two days of torture 323 years ago on Sept. 19, 1692. His wife, Martha Corey was executed by hanging Sept. 22, 1692.
Lindsay Lohan
This portrait of Lindsay Lohan is based on her LA County Sheriff's Department mug shot from October 2011 after a judge revoked her probation because she failed to perform court-ordered community service.
369 years ago, Alse Young (ca. 1600 – May 26, 1647) of Windsor, Connecticut was hanged in the first recorded instance of execution for witchcraft in America.
The quote, "One of Windsor was hanged," is taken from a journal of then Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop.
Paris Hilton
This portrait of Paris Hilton is based on her mug shot after she was arrested for a parole violation in 2007.
The quote here is from Martha Corey, who was executed for witchcraft about 323 years ago on Sept. 22, 1692.
David Bowie
This portrait of David Bowie is based on his March 1976 mugshot after he was arrested along with Iggy Pop in upstate New York on a felony pot possession charge.
Quote here is from Bridget Bishop, who 324 years ago (June 10, 1692) was the first person executed for witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.
Eminem
This portrait of Eminem is based on his mug shot after he was arrested in June 2000 for carrying a concealed weapon and for assault after he got into a fight with a man he saw kissing his wife.
The quote here is from James Willard, who was accused of witchcraft after refusing to arrest others who had been accused. He was hanged on August 19, 1692.
Kid Rock
This portrait of Kid Rock is based on his mugshot after he was arrested for getting into a fight at a Waffle House in Georgia in Oct. 2007.
The quote here is from Giles Corey, who was pressed to death under heavy stones after he refused to plead (guilty or not guilty) after being accused of witchcraft. He died after two days of torture 323 years ago on Sept. 19, 1692. His wife, Martha Corey was executed by hanging Sept. 22, 1692.
Lindsay Lohan
This portrait of Lindsay Lohan is based on her mug shot after pleading no contest to reckless driving in March 2013.
Quote here is from my great grandmother about 13 generations or so back, Mary Eastey, who was executed for witchcraft 323 years ago Sept. 22, 1692.
Bill Cosby
This portrait of Bill Cosby is based on his 2015 mug shot when he was charged with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 12 years earlier. He is 78 years old.
The quote here is from George Jacobs, Sr., who was found guilty of witchcraft and hanged on August 19, 1692. He was 72 years old. His granddaughter was also accused of witchcraft, and was one of his accusers.
Paris Hilton
This portrait of Paris Hilton is based on her 2010 mugshot when she was arrested for cocaine possession.
Quote here is from Rebecca Nurse, my great aunt from about 13 generations back, who was executed for witchcraft in Salem on July 19, 1692.
My Drinking Problem: Pumpkin Spice Odyessy
Due to the ubiquitousness of it, I consumed nothing but Pumpkin Spice coffee for a month.