The Working Proof: Erik Otto - Gathering

I'm so excited to release this new print edition by Erik Otto - Gathering, inspired by the idea of a collective consciousness reaching for the same source. Gathering is a special edition - there are only 25 prints, and each is printed on an up-cycled record sleeve that Erik used as a canvas for the edition. Each print is made by hand with a combination of house paint, spray paint and screenprinting, making each one one-of-a-kind.

Erik Otto is an illustrator, painter, and graphic designer living in San Francisco. He's got a lot going on - besides his own artwork, he is a graphic designer for VESL Studios and co-runs a socially conscious, art-driven company, New Leaf Collection. Erik finds inspiration everywhere, but the underlying theme in his work is about a quest to be connected to a deeper source as well as the struggle to maintain that connection in such a disconnected world.

15% of the gross sale of this print will be donated to Architecture for Humanity. On why he chose to pair Architecture for Humanity with his print:

After living on 6th Street in San Francisco for over a year - which is one of the most run down streets in the downtown area and is infested with drug addiction - I have a new level of compassion for those without a home. Every day I would meet people who hit rock bottom, but for whatever reason could not get out. It's crazy how we live in the richest nation in the world, yet so many of those people lacked basic human needs and wound up turning to drugs as their only way to cope with their loneliness and depression. I am no longer in that environment but I find myself looking back at it as an example of a larger problem that lies under the surface all over the world.

Pick up one of Erik's prints here, and read our interview with him here.