Eli Grimes

Building a Wildfire

Creation comes in many forms. I find the inspiration to create on dirty sidewalks; in the gutters on my walks home in the form of tiny plastic rhinoceros’, bottlecaps in unique jewel tones I haven’t collected yet, and the odd bead or bit of an earring here and here, left in a parking lot for the sun to bake. I find joy, and wonder, and new life in these things that are left behind. I scoop them up, plop them into my bag, and carry them home, where they will eventually be added to a new piece of art. My art reflects the beauty I find in these “grime scores,” as I call them. A lot of people work very hard to get it “just right,” and I do, too, but in a different way. I make all kinds of things – crusty costumes, rusted jewelry, wall décor decorated with human bones and moss, and I do the occasional group project building a two-story 20’ building with a base made from dozens of pallet racks and walls patched with rusted metal, a secret sliding bookcase door, and a secret backroom bar. It really depends on my mood.