Artist's Statement

Randy C. Bolton's work is characterized by an exploration of images that seem familiar and comforting at first glance, but become strange and disturbing upon further consideration. His prints borrow from and adapt the nostalgia-evolving illustrations of early children's books and science texts. In their original contexts these pictures serve as visual tools to help educate young minds about acceptable morals and beliefs. In his work, however, Bolton has reclaimed these illustrations with a more subversive intent.

By altering and recombining fragments of these illustrations, new meanings are suggested in which an undercurrent of uncertainty or apprehension undermines the initial flash of familiarity and comfort. Images originally intended to reflect childhood security and innocence become ironic metaphors of a chaotic world that is threatened by forces beyond our true comprehension and control.

Bolton's work is about the power these illustrations have in shaping our view of the world as children, followed by the disillusionment that occurs when these images fail us as adults. Despite the seemingly amusing or flippant quality of the images he employs, there is an element of concern in Bolton's work and a vague feeling that the valuable things in life are in jeopardy.


Biography

Born in Dallas, TX in 1956, Randy C. Bolton received a B.F.A. from the University of North Texas, Denton, in 1978 and a M.F.A. from Ohio State University, Columbus, in 1982. In 2002, Bolton began a teaching position as Head of the Print Media Department and Artist in Residence at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan where he resides today.

In addition to several visiting artist positions at schools across the country, and the honor of 3 fellowships, Bolton's work has been widely exhibited in solo, group, invitational and juried shows since 1982. His solo exhibitions include Things Are Rarely What They Seem and Chase, Tumble, Slide, Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Books of Nonsense, Evergreen House, Baltimore, MD; and Two Sides to Every Story, Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, NY.

Bolton has completed artist residencies at the MacDowell Art Colony, Peterborough, NH; Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY; and the Camargo Foundation, Cassis, France. His prints are represented in many corporate and museum collections including The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; and the New York Public Library, New York, NY.