Julia Randall

Gallery Affiliations: garveylsimon ART ACCESS

Region: Northeast

My current drawings feature images of chewing gum bubbles in various states of inflation and deflation. Bubblegum initially connotes innocent, cheeky pleasure, yet its fragile skin also evokes the susceptible human body and the dreaded passage of time. Bubblegum is an insignificant, disposable material, and the pleasure its flavor gives is fleeting. The bubble is a vessel that momentarily holds our breath in a physical form. Seen as a group, the inflating/deflating bubble images form a visual manifestation of breathing.

When drawn larger than life and in hyper-detail, the images are imbued with mystery; they bring to mind bodily organs and membranes. Their dimensionality, viscosity, and wetness suggest erotic corporeality. As surrogates for the body, they can appear abject, vulnerable, and often humorous—an intersection of the absurd and grotesque.

I draw using a precise, scientific method as a way to describe what we ultimately cannot see or hold; this is my ritualized effort to prevent the loss of all things that are ultimately elusive and fugitive.