Matt Eaton's first solo show opened up last night in Royal Oak Michigan and the ITRPF Street Team was there. 323 East Gallery hosted the event for home town boy Matt.
Having spent his formative years moving to and from cities like Los Angeles, London, New York and Detroit, Matt Eaton became compelled to investigate his surroundings. While trying to find some familiarity and comfort in these new places, he became fascinated with local signage, lettering and advertising. This quickly lead to a deep admiration for graffiti and the layers of old ads plastered on walls of buildings and subway tunnels. The decay of once new and seemingly important information and how quickly it is forgotten and plastered over have become a major theme in his work. This imagery became a traveling companion of sorts, never having to be left behind and waiting to be enjoyed in every new place he found himself with bright friendly colors and interesting new themes. The process of mixing these mental images with memories of sayings and quotations that he associates with certain areas and people allows him to use his training in calligraphy and graphic design to produce personal snapshots of his life experience. Having long ago stepped away from the active world of graffiti, Matt still uses techniques and materials native to graffiti culture, as well as painting on wood which allows him to explore more realistic and natural textures and layers while being able to control surface quality
All of the art was quite stunning in person. “All of my paintings contain multiple layers, some up to 40 different color compositions and surfaces. I paint over everything, constantly, until I find a place that satisfies me,” Matt says of his method. “Many of the layers are text, plays on quotes that I love or hate, lines in movies, and personal thoughts.”
Eaton designs all the typography and letters by hand, then he cuts stencils of them to spray through. Each new layer might consist of several colors that, when sanded away, reveal new colors and textures.
“The whole experience for me is to create, destroy, create, destroy, and create,” Eaton says. “I always include floral patterns I’m obsessed with. For me the floral design represents a superficial part of me (or anyone). You see it quite obviously from a distance and may think its pretty, just a pattern or something, but upon further inspection you see that there is more going on behind the scenes; more texture, color, shapes, words. I guess its self exploration in a way, but in can also be me viewing other people, finding more than the face value and being fascinated with whats underneath.”
Check out 323East.com to see the individual pieces still for sale. Along with the art pieces Matt had small photos for sale too.
Catch up with Matt on FaceBook
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