Yerka studied art at University, before rebelling against the trend to paint with less attention to realism and detail. Instead, he found his education studying the works of the Northern European masters like the Van Eycks, Dierck Bouts, Robert Campin, Bosch, and surrealists such as Magritte.

"I did my first painting of my life a year before going to college, where I began studying graphics. My instructors always tried to get me to paint in the more contemporary abstract style, amd move away from my fascination with realism. I saw this as an attempt to stifle my own creative style and steadfastly refused to fall in line. Eventually, my teachers relented."

- via morpheusgallery.com