Erik Desmazières was born in Rabat (Rabbat) Morocco in 1948, the son of a French diplomat. He spent his childhood in Morocco, Portugal, and France. He is a graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, where he studied political science and also studied printmaking at the Cours du Soir de la Ville de Paris. He is a member of and has served as president of La Societe des Peintres Graveurs Francais.

Desmazières is an intaglio printmaker and is considered to be part of the Art Fantastique school, whose artists find their aesthetic antecedents in Bresdin, Piranesi, Callot and Durer. In addition to prints he is well known for his illustrated artist books and portfolios.

Desmazières has been honored with a retrospective exhibition at the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam and solo exhibitions at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, and the Telfair Museum in Savannah, Georgia, USA. Desmazières has received the Grand Prix des Arts de la Ville de Paris and many other awards for his work.

Desmazières has exhibited extensively throughout the world and is in most major museum modern print collections. He currently resides in Paris.