Happy Birthday Sanderson Texas by Eric Ryan Anderson

Photographed over the span of thirteen years, Happy Birthday Sanderson Texas reveals a wandering exploration on lineage, legacy and legend as seen via landscape, portraiture and abstraction. After spending a quarter century immersed in Texas culture and narrative, Eric left the state. Only in the ensuing years, through conversations around the world, did he start to see what “Texas” meant to people and how that clashed with the reality of his upbringing. Thus, a sometimes-sporadic exploration of the state began. This project began as a study on roots and family lineage, morphed into an exploration of death and life and resurrection, and ultimately found nuance and value in a quiet little town called Sanderson.

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Eric Ryan Anderson (b. 1980) is a visual artist whose work aims to find humanity and value in all things. He has produced commercial imagery for clients such as Nike, Wilson, Google, Sony, Apple, Rivian, JBL, Tonal, Dick’s Sporting Goods and more. Editorially, he has been commissioned by The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Die Zeit, Billboard and more. In 2020, he purchased an old farmhouse near Nashville, TN which would become a creative studio hub and eventually the namesake for Sunnyside Projects. After growing up in Texas, and a decade-long stint in New York City, he now lives in Nashville with his family.