Erik Durant is a figurative sculptor residing in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he studied History and Sculpture at Southern Connecticut State University. In 2001 he moved to New Bedford to attend the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, receiving an MFA in Sculpture in 2004. Durant exhibits his work nationally, recently showing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lexington, Kentucky, and Portland, Oregon. He has also shown work in New York, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, Texas, and throughout southern New England. Durant's New Bedford Fisherman’s Tribute Monument and the memorial statue for former Massachusetts State Representative Tom Lopes, both life-size bronze works, were installed in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 2016. Durant’s personal work is primarily a quest to understand the seemingly absurd world that surrounds all of us. As a sculptor he utilizes the human figure to explore narratives both known and unknown. The characters that he chooses to sculpt tend to be rooted in the past, but are his own imaginings of things not fully understood. Issues surrounding beauty, the body, and identity, give rise to a version of contemporary mythology that is new, yet seemingly familiar.