Erik Wahl

Erik C. Wahl is an American graffiti artist, speed-painter, author, speaker, and entrepreneur based in San Diego. He owns The Wahl Group, a consultancy firm and has spoken at conventions by Microsoft, Disney, NBC and Honda. Wahl makes paintings of innovative thinkers, leaders and cultural icons during all his presentations. These paintings are given to the company that hires him.

At the closing session of a conference in Las Vegas, he painted an upside down portrait of Steve Jobs. In 2011, he made a 10,000 square-foot Mona Lisa in a dessert near Los Angeles. Wahl wrote his first book Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius in 2013. In 2013, Smart Tan Magazine called him "The Picasso of Productivity".

Early life and education
When Wahl was in grade school, his teacher told him that "art was not his strength," so Wahl stopped painting and started completely focusing on his studies. He scored good grades throughout his academic life. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of San Diego where he studied business.

Career
After completing his education, Wahl joined the corporate sector. He was partner at a corporate firm for eight years. However, in early 2000's, his business was affected badly by the dot-com bubble burst. At the age of 30, Wahl had no work or money and felt "imprisoned", so he left the corporate world and started painting to "reinvent" himself. Wahl’s network became a community of artists who had vision but did not know how to express it to the public. At that time he realized "that it is not either businessman or artist," Wahl said in an interview to Forefront Magazine, "But rather, it is a mashing of the two together—to take this art that has now become such a part of my identity, and translate it back to the business community so they can create a vision to create disruptive strategies."

Currently, he is a motivational speaker, graffiti artist and owns a consulting firm, The Wahl Group that helps organizations in implementing “breakthrough” techniques. In 2011, he created a 10,000 square-foot Mona Lisa in a dessert near Los Angeles in three days. using dirt and rocks

Presentations and speed-painting
Wahl has spoken at conventions by Microsoft, Disney, NBC and Honda. His presentations are generally focused on his creative background. In his keynotes, he often showcases his work and explains the motivation behind his work. Wahl's signature keynote is called The Art of Vision, a 45-60 minute multi-media format program in which he shares ideas to be more creative. He makes paintings of innovative thinkers, leaders and cultural icons during all his presentations. Wahl gives these paintings to the company that hires him. He recommends that the company can hang the artwork in their offices as a reminder of his performance or auction off the paintings for a charitable cause of their choice. At the closing session of a conference in Lase Vegas, where Wahl was the keynote speaker, he painted an upside down portrait of Steve Jobs. He has been featured as a TED presenter.

In 2010, he performed at an IRS employee convention in Anaheim where he painted portraits of Michael Jordan and U2 singer Bono as a part of The Art of Vision. Two attendees received a painting done by him. Three other Wahl paintings were donated to the Combined Federal Campaign, a workplace charity program. In 2012, Wahl delivered a live art performance to pay tribute to Director Gus Van Sant at the 11th Annual San Diego Film Festival in La Jolla, California.

Wahl was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting for the Hutchinson Kansas Chamber of Commerce. At the event, he played the video of Springsteen singing "Born in the USA." While the song was playing, he painted a portrait of the Boss. Towards the end of his presentation, he played a video of "God Bless the USA" and drew a picture of Lady Liberty - which coincided with the last view of the video of Lady Liberty.

He was a presenter at the 2013 NACDS Annual Meeting, the Greater Scranton of Commerce Dinner, the Ian Somerhalder Foundations’s Influence Affair, the Lectora User Conference in 2012. Smart Tan Downtown Conference in 2013, and Sotheby's International Realty 2013 Global Networking Event held at JW Marriott in Los Angeles. He was the keynote speaker for the 2013 International LCT Show.

Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius
In 2013, he wrote Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius, a book about using creativity to achieve better performance. The book was published by Random House. Wahl, came up with the word unthink when he saw that executives wanted to be creative, but did not know how. According to Wahl, "unthink means to unleash and unlock the mind to come up with boundless, innovative solutions." Unthink released on June 4, 2013 as the #1 Business Best-seller on CEO reads and stayed in top ten in July, 2013. Fast Company called the book "Provocative with a Purpose" and writer Paul B. Brown wrote that it is "a book that can spur your creativity."

Philanthropy
Wahl does not sell his art on the commercial market, but he occasionally paints for charities. In 2011, he announced that his artwork has raised over $1.5 million for charitable causes around the world.

In 2012, Wahl painted a portrait of Marilyn Monroe in three minutes at a graffiti art auction in front of an audience. This painting was bought by Pink and Carey Hart for $10,000. The proceeds were donated to Linda’s Voice, a non-profit that raises awareness for ending domestic abuse globally. He performed at an XPrize Gala event in San Francisco in 2012. During the performance, he made a painting of Steve Jobs, which was auctioned for $27,500 for the X Prize Foundation.

In May 2013, he donated his painting of Lady Liberty in a live auction to benefit One Fund Boston, an organization founded by Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Tom Menino for the victims of the Boston Marathon tragedy. The painting was sold for $10,500. At the launch event of his book in West Hollywood in 2013, he made a painting of Einstein in front of the audience. The painting was auctioned at Charitybuzz and the proceeds of the painting were donated to After-School All-Stars.

Art Drop
In 2012, he started a treasure hunt based game called, Art Drop. As a part of the treasure hunt, he places his original paintings at undisclosed locations and provides his social media followers with a photograph of the location. The first to spot and claim the work wins the painting. Paintings of icons such as Audrey Hepburn, Steve Jobs and Martin Luther King Jr. have been given to people as a part of Art Drop. A painting of Johnny Cash was featured in the Art Drop on October 11, 2013.

Wahl STORY
In 2012, Sean Sheridan wrote a book about Wahl titled Wahl STORY - Art and Interview. The book featured personal interviews, observations and behind the scene photographs of Wahl. Sean spent four months travelling, interviewing and photographing Wahl’s life and thoughts both at home and on tour.

Personal life
Wahl lives in San Diego with his wife Tasha and their three sons. When asked, Wahl said that to "feed his creative brain" he goes to live music "as much as possible." He said, "That’s [live music is] where I write my best business stuff because I’ve let go of my critical thinking mind. I’ve let go of what a management strategy is supposed to be or what a customer service is supposed to look like."