Erik Kriek was born in 1966 in Amsterdam. He studied illustration and graphic arts at the Rietveld Academy of Art and Design of Amsterdam. Since he graduated in 1991, he has worked as a freelance illustrator and his work has decorated almost every surface imaginable, from skateboards, snowboards, posters, album covers, to sneakers and, of course, books and magazines. He has also achieved international recognition as a comic book author. In 2008, Kriek received the “Stripschapsprijs” award for his life work.
Kriek's most recent publications include a comic book adaptation of several short stories by science fiction and horror author H.P. Lovecraft, published in 2012, Lovecraft: From Beyond and Other Tales (Ediciones La Cúpula) and a 2016 collection of short stories inspired by American murder ballads titled In the Pines (Norma Editorial).
The books have been well received by critics and readers alike, and have since been translated into English, Spanish, French, German, German, Italian, Swedish and Serbian. In the Pines received wide acclaim everywhere, won several awards and was adapted into a full-length theatrical and multimedia piece by The Brussels Jazz Orchestra. It also attracted considerable attention from Hollywood and is currently being developed for television.
In 2019, Kriek published his first full-length graphic novel called The Exile. So far it has been published in Dutch, Italian, English, French and German; and thanks to cARTEm Cómics also in Spanish. It was chosen comic of the month by all the associated bookstores of CEGAL's ZONA COMIC. This work has garnered numerous awards and recognitions in all the countries where it has been published.
Now, almost four years later, Erik presents his new graphic novel, The Pit, which is also being published simultaneously in several countries besides Spain. A couple, Huub and Sara, try to overcome the tragic loss of their son by moving to an old family house in the middle of a forest. Will it be a good decision? And what do those strange signs carved in the old beech trees mean? A story of psychological horror, with hints of his idolized Lovecraft, which will immerse us in a world where it will be difficult to differentiate what is real and what is not.
As in The Exiled and before in In the Pines, his use of a reduced range of colors allows the reader to know where he is and also to transmit the desired emotions with each stroke, with each chromatic range. If in The Exiled the blue and gray tones made us feel the cold of the inhospitable Iceland, in The Pit the ocher and greenish tones immerse us in the vegetation of the lush and terrifying forest that surrounds the house.
Kriek is an unclassifiable author, because all of his works are different, so no one should expect to find echoes of the violent Viking western of The Exiled in The Pit. However, at the same time, it is very easy to recognize him, because he has a unique style and stroke, which is capable of moving us by telling stories that are very different from each other.
