Alfred Eaker'S BIO
Alfred Eaker was born in the Midwest in 1964. He grew up in a household dominated by religion. He was encouraged to draw during church services as a way to keep himself occupied. His family moved to a small town in the 1970's and they joined an evangelical church that was visited frequently by revivalists. After high school, Alfred applied to the local art school and won a partial scholarship. At school he painted passionately, produced what would be the first in a series of videos and worked full time. Eaker dropped out of school after his second year and to this day doesn't regret that "he learned what I had to learn and got the hell out of there." Alfred continued to paint prolifically and showed in a number of galleries in the Midwest. After befriending two priests, Alfred converted to Catholicism and that, too, became a subject for his art. One of his major projects was a 150 foot mural at a Catholic church's food pantry. "Modern Spirituality" so startled everyone that he was ordered to stop painting. It was completed and Alfred and a group of artists staged an art auction to benefit the charity.
Alfred has produced a number of independent films; feature "Jesus and the Gospel of Yes," the short "Behold the Man" (about his friend and fellow artist, the late Ed Sanders) a second feature, surreal satire about George Bush, "W The Movie", and two short films for the 48 Hour Film Festival, "Hallow's Dance", and "9". Alfred is currently working on a feature length documentary about autistic Native American artist Raymond Thunder-Sky and the Cincinnati gallery named after Raymond. In addition to "Thunder-Sky" Alfred is in the early stages of a docufantasy titled "Stations" and he has recently completed a feature length screen play, twenty years in the work, inspired by the Pentecostal Church he grew up in. After a lengthy hiatus, Alfred is painting again. Still a strong emphasis on his religious background, he also references childhood images of the West, has done a series of introspective, abstracted self-portraits and is currently working on a large, abstract, metaphorical series also titled "Stations."
