The rustbelt. A gritty industrial landscape who’s heart, Cleveland, artist Zach Eberly calls home. Growing up working in industrial fabrication he has spent most of his life with the manufacturers that built the backbone of the country’s infrastructure. The steel mills, auto plants, assembly lines, all fuel his creativity and hold deep meanings within his work.
With his art, he’s preserving the gritty rough and tumble past that today’s America came from.
“The industrial world that created us barely exists anymore,” Eberly said. “Woodshop, auto shop, those gritty classes I took in high school are gone.”
The world is slowly changing, but his current works, large, minimalistic and bold, strive to hold on to the art of industry. The mixed media depictions of his beloved Cleveland have the exact texture to visually “feel” the rust belt’s epicenter. Similar to the collector of beautiful classic cars, who holds in high esteem the craftsmanship of the auto industry’s early years, Eberly transcribes an industrial world with paint, ink, sometimes even earth, and canvas.
Many manufacturers are currently launching entire departments and divisions dedicated to preserving their classic models; Jaguar recently launched a full line of E-type body parts from their Heritage department, and Ferrari’s Classiche Department is the centerpiece of any visit to their Maranello headquarters.
And as Eberly describes, it’s because the beauty of those cars is timeless. “They are coveted things, and people don’t ever want them to go away.”
With one of his industry-inspired pieces, a part of that mechanical heritage can be a part of your home or office at all times. The artist does commissioned work and makes stretchers of wood or steel to fit any size space. He offers pieces that can cover an entire factory wall or small enough to fit an 8 x 10 picture frame. A piece’s focus can be an inspiration from your own life, mixed media work can incorporate interesting personal tones such as oil from a car, though it will always hold the strength of a mechanical tone.
To learn more about Eberly’s creations, visit www.zacheberly.com or contact his broker Rob Scharfeld direct at RobS.artbroker@gmail.com . Also, if you happen to be in the Manhattan area spring 2016, keep an eye out for a pop-up art gallery featuring a new body of Zach’s work. We hear the series is based on old auto manufacturers and will be shown along side some serious horse power.
