Gallery Reception: Tom Richard, "Bubble Gum on Art"

"For the last two decades, I have been working on different series of mixed media paintings and drawings that contextualize or fuse the serious with the frivolous.  The works in each series can be seen as either individual or as related pieces within the context of the entire installation.

 

In 2021, I began the Bubble Gum on Art Series that depicts illusionistic bubble gum painted over images removed from different art history textbooks.  The painted bubble gum masks a prominent part of the composition (which could be the primary focal point, but in some cases, is the secondary or tertiary one) to hint at a transformation--from black & white to color, appropriation to original, high to low, masking to potential, and serious to whimsy. They are matted in a format to mask the text from the page while showing the image in its original page location.

 

This series focuses on the space between the serious and the absurd. The idea of the frivolous amongst the sacred interests me.  In this exhibition, I use this seeming contradiction as it relates to how we teach art history.  While many contemporary artists have critiqued the way western art history has been presented in the past, some have taken those thoughts a step further. I am one such artist."