Bubblegum page 15
Oil on wood panel. Pine frame. 24 x 36”.
Bubblegum is taken straight out of my artist book of the same title. It is literally page fifteen in that work but magnified in oil paint.
This painting can only be understood in the context of the written piece. The book is about the concept of the “missing stair”. The missing stair is a metaphor for an unsafe person that society ignores or even accommodates. One benign example is a bad boss, like Michael Scott in the show “The Office.”.
A darker example would be a violent, aggressive, or predatory man in the family that everyone tiptoes around, telling the kids, “Don’t bother grandpa when he’s drinking in the garage.” Or “Don’t sit on uncle’s lap.”
The stair metaphor is referencing the fact that rather than deal with that empty space/problematic person’’s behaviors to protect the innocent, instead we tell potential victims to “jump around” the problem. Therefore, when they get hurt it’s their own fault. They should’ve known better than to be alone with them, take that quiet route home, or wear that outfit.
The question that is asked on the page directly before is “Should we do something to stop them?” and the answer on page 15 is a resounding, “No, my sweet bubblegum. You jump, jump, jump.”