PAULA WHYMAN

Ralph Eaton is a Roanoke-based visual artist who says people who see his work sometimes compare him with the bully toy-mutilator from the Toy Story flicks. But his art is anything but mean-spirited. He uses a wide range of ordinary objects, and for some projects, he deconstructs and reconstructs old stuffed animals he finds at thrift shops. Here, he scorched a teddy bear, and I helped. While another artist held the bear at the end of a long pole, and Ralph operated the blowtorch, I took pictures. I therefore admit my complicity in this bear-burning.





"The game I like to play is making the familiar unfamiliar," Eaton explains. "The sculptures are intended to amplify the absurdity of objects that dominate and clutter our culture."

There is of course the added excitement of doing something a little subversive to cute and cuddly toys. My kids thought it was awesome.





Sometimes the stuffed toys are stand-ins for people, Eaton says, "to contrast outer appearances with inner realities. Cured teddy bears are 'cured' of their cuteness to reveal their dysfunctional condition."


Above is a wall sculpture that Eaton will photograph and reconfigure digitally, with similar goals of creating alternate views of reality.

Eaton's work has just been selected for New Waves 2011 at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, a juried exhibition, and in March, he'll be a featured artist at Roanoke's Marginal Arts Festival. Check out Ralph's website for a much broader range of his projects (and much better photographs!).