Eric Millikin approaches his work with an outlandish, utopian vision. The activist artist begins with questions like, “If I were to make artwork that ended racism, what would that be? How could I do that?”
He knows failure is likely inevitable—but that’s precisely the point. In aiming to change the minds of 6 or 7 billion people, Millikin hopes he’ll convince a hundred to reconsider their ideas, beliefs and actions.
“If you fail at radical, you might end up somewhere incredible, whereas, if you fail at incremental, you’ll end up where you started,” he says. “I embrace that failure and aim as high as possible, so that my failure is as spectacular as possible and if there is any amount of residual success, it’s as big as possible.”
Profile on artist, activist and journalist Eric Millikin for VCUarts.