Belated RIP, Joe Erceg

Joe's House. Acrylic on world globe by David Chelsea, 2008. Not for sale. Photo by Tom Lechner. tomlechner.com/
Joe’s House. Acrylic on world globe by David Chelsea, 2008. Not for sale. Photo by Tom Lechner. tomlechner.com/

2018 is winding down, and I have some unfinished business. The graphic designer Joe Erceg, a longtime friend, died this past June. From the Oregonian obituary:

David Chelsea is reading: Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys
by Michael Collins

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Modern Love Podcast: Seeing the World Through My Mom’s Eyes

Modern Love Illustration for the New York Times.
Modern Love Illustration for the New York Times.

Another of my old illustrations just went up on the Modern Love Podcast website. On this week’s podcast, the actor David Oyelowo reads “Seeing the World Through My Wife’s Eyes,” about a man whose other senses become heightened after he loses sight, and whose spouse helps fill in the details he can’t discern.

The 2006 Modern Love essay was written by Ryan Knighton, an author whose work often describes his experience of blindness. You can follow him on Twitter.

Mr. Oyelowo recently starred in the film “A United Kingdom” and is known for his portrayal of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in “Selma.”

David Chelsea is watching: The Scarecrow (Broadway Theater Archive)
Starring Gene Wilder

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Spherical Perspective: Joe’s House

Joe's House.  Acrylic on world globe by David Chelsea, 2008. Not for sale. Photo by Tom Lechner. tomlechner.com/
Joe's House. Acrylic on world globe by David Chelsea, 2008. Not for sale. Photo by Tom Lechner. tomlechner.com/

This is the largest and most elaborate spherical painting I have done to date, and the first actual commission. It was painted for Joe Erceg, and depicts the interior of his house. Joe is possibly my oldest friend, in that he knew my parents before I was born. Since the 1960s Joe has been one of Portland’s leading graphic designers, and now runs his firm Joseph Erceg Graphic Design with his son Matt. Longtime Portlanders may remember the giant butterfly painting designed by Joe which once covered the side of the Fleischner Building in Old Town.
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