Edgar Jerins was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1958. He was the recipient of a full scholarship from Scholastic Art Awards to attend the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts graduating in 1980 with a four year certificate. That year, he was awarded a Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, which funded his move to Los Angeles. Subsequent grants : The Pollock-KrasnerFoundation Grant, New York Foundation for the Arts, Fellowship in Printmaking/Drawing/Artists Books, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Grant, George Sugarman Foundation Grant (twice), and the E.D. Foundation Grant.

He has had solo exhibitions at the Latvian Foreign Art Museum, Riga, Latvia, Museum of Nebraska Art, Beckler Family Member Gallery, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Lied Art Gallery, Creighton University (Omaha, Nebraska), Payne Gallery at Moravian Collage, and two New York City exhibitions at Tatistsheff Gallery. His drawings have been widely exhibited in catalogue supported shows across the US.

 Edgar Jerins ‘Life in Charcoal’ published by Goff books, published in 2023. Hardcover, 120 pages, 92 illustrations documenting the series of large-scale drawings begun in 2001.

Reviews include The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and American Arts Quarterly. A feature article “Uomimi in mezzo ai guair” by Lorena Cerbini appeared in Italy’s Arte Magazine. His work and essay are included in the recent survey of figurative art in the Rizzoli book "The Figure." 

His public collections are the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Arkansas Art Center, Museum of Nebraska Art, Latvian National Museum of Art, and Moravian College. He is represented by ACA Galleries in New York City. Jerins is a Adjunct Faculty at the New York Academy of Art.

Edgar Jerins is currently represented by ACA Galleries.