Mr. Austin makes paintings, photos and mixed media artworks. By applying abstraction, Erik touches various overlapping themes and strategies. Several reoccurring subject matter can be recognized, such as the relation with popular culture and media, working with repetition, provocation and the investigation of the process of expectations.

His paintings often refers to pop and mass culture. Using written and drawn symbols, a world where light-heartedness rules and where rules are undermined is created. By using popular themes such as sexuality, family structure and violence, he creates intense personal moments masterfully created by means of rules and omissions, acceptance and refusal, luring the viewer round and round in circles.

His works doesn’t reference recognizable form. The results are deconstructed to the extent that meaning is shifted and possible interpretation becomes multifaceted.  Through the play of colors, contrasts, shapes, lines, and their arrangement, Austin endeavors to make his works alive and vibrant, inviting viewers to "surpass themselves by touching their souls".

Mr. Austin also works extensively with his theater company Kelrik Productions painting sets and murals throughout the state of California. He is the author of 90 Days in Shadow Hills (How I survived the underworld). Erik currently lives and works in San Diego, CA.