Eric Ruby

Stone Soup brings together Eric Rubys photographs from the past decade and presents them collaged on fabrics from his personal collection. The results are a maximalist colorful aesthetic that creates playful and unexpected visual harmonies. The photographs offer a glimpse into Rubys daily lifethings grown in the garden, visits to friends houses, a trip to the beach, or a quiet moment. The collected textiles feel almost as if they were plucked straight out of a scene depicted in the photographs. Together, the collages are a true appreciation for the things, places, and people in Rubys lived experience.

Stone Soup is titled after the classic European folk tale where a hungry traveler tries to convince villagers that he can make a delicious soup from a stone, and invites everyone to dinner. Each of the guests decides that the soup needs some additional ingredient or spice, and makes a contribution to the pot. In the end the original stone soup has been transformed into a stew that nourishes the entire village. In much the same way, the places and subjects that Eric Ruby photographs in his travels become collaborators and ingredients in the creation of his work, and the result is a vivid portrait of the sustenance of community and the moveable feast that is the world through Rubys eyes.