You Can Look But You Can't Touch Callum Eaton's New Exhibit
Callum Eaton continues to grab the art world's attention with his hyper-realistic works, including *those* insane ATM paintings that look real enough to trip out a thief on the street (and maybe even make them rethink their day job).
Eaton, who is also known as "the ATM Guy" (of course), is now back with a new solo exhibition complete with new trompe l'oeil paintings. Warning: trippy stuff lies ahead.
For his solo London debut presented at the Carl Kostyál gallery, Eaton's Look but Don't Touch exhibition sees the London artist look to his hometown for inspiration, specifically playing with the concept of furniture and architecture lining the London streets.
In Look but Don't Touch, Eaton creates new works depicting everyday items like photo booths, vending machines, elevators, and laundry mat washing machines "intended for our interaction but appear as rather readymades," per a press statement. "They retain their form but lose their function."
When sat up straight behind Eaton, the objects appear very much real and functional, with buttons and keypads ready to be pushed and poked — only to discover these contemporary machines have been reduced to literal flattened, surface-level muses.
Eaton even ups the life-like ante, adding himself as a subject to the Photo-Me booth and Washeteria pieces (he appears as a crazy-real-looking reflection in the washing machine door) — further "blurring the lines between the real world he inhabits, and the flattened substrata simulation that exists on the surface of each canvas."
Look but Don't Touch is a further dive into Eaton's artistic world, where conceptual art practices expanded during his studies at Goldsmiths meets a critique of society's commercialism of contemporary culture. We've seen Eaton's hyperrealistic style shine in previous exhibits like his Long Story Short showcase in Paris, complete with money machines sure to frustrate cash-seeking passersby unfamiliar with Eaton's unreal realistic forte.
For Londoners or stateside art lovers who find themselves in London soon and want to see the latest exhibit, Eaton's Look but Don't Touch exhibit is open at Carl Kostyál Gallery until September 9.
Look but Don't Touch is precisely how it sounds: meant for looking and not touching. Though, if you reach out for a feel, you're subject to crumpled fingers when met with the canvas — and probably a scolding from the Carl Kostyál gallery attendants. Jokes aside, please don't touch the art.
