Meet the Artists: Ralph Eaton

If you have past by Community High School's display window on Campbell Ave. or made an appearance lately at the Dumas Center, you've probably seen strange things: a yellow-ish green formation that seems to have come alive from the pages of Dr. Seuss or a gray blob of stitched cloth that seems to become ever more deformed and mutated each time you pass.

These changing sculptures are the work of installation and performance artist Ralph Eaton, and are titled, Endless Suture Project (in the CHS window) and Gray Matter (in the Dumas lobby).

In addition to their eye-candy-like qualities, these works are backed by artistic intention. Eaton explains of his neon yellow structure,

"The project title, endless suture, refers to the process of trying to fill the void of unfulfilled desire. A suture heals a wound ... the wound is our separation from the real. We are forever trying to heal that wound by consuming anything and everything that might make us feel better. [...] The sculpture attempts to put in front of the eyes what is happening behind the eyes, to make the invisible a visible object."

While similar in their construction and their ability to be molded and morphed into new shapes, Eaton has different intentions behind each of his works:

"I think of endless suture as being about desire and consumption/production, and gray matter as being about memory and mental processes ..."

To read more of Eaton's musings on Gray Matter, click here. You can also read a blurb about Endless Suture Project here.

These structures will remain up for the rest of the month, so keep watching!