beyond the frame: randal ford for redbubble
A piece of art offers a window into another world, transporting the onlooker into a frozen moment of sublimity, awe, fantasy, reverence, or empowerment. By placing artwork in the spaces we inhabit, we make the world of home feel more like our own, offering ourselves excursions of mind and spirit as a reprieve from the chaos of reality, or an antidote to the mundanity of daily life. At Redbubble, the online marketplace where independent artists can create goods showcasing their work, the belief in art’s ability to positively affect our experience and expand our worldview is taken seriously—but not so seriously they miss out on the fun of it.
In Randal Ford’s recent shoot for Redbubble, play was front-and-center, if not slightly out of frame. “The prompt for the campaign was ‘Hone in on your happy place,’” Ford explains. The still photos and videos Ford shot feature subjects in their art-bedecked homes—their happy places. The images telescope from tightly cropped moments of quiet repose (read: a woman enjoying a cup of coffee on her couch with salon-style artworks above) to wider panoramas of domesticity’s mess and squalor (read: her dog ripping up the furniture just below while her daughter scribbles on the rug). The oscillation between the two concurrent realities is a perfect illustration of art’s ability to transport and transform.
Ford’s signature approach to creating highly styled environs runs throughout the series, with brightly colored, pop-inspired furnishings and careful lighting. “This shoot was such a blast,” Ford says of the days spent on set in Austin with vibrant talent and a hardworking crew. “I loved working with the young girl—just letting her play and get super messy—and with the prop stylist who helped to bring this concept to life.”
It’s safe to assume that for many Redbubble users, art is life. Ford’s Redbubble photos reinforce that notion, while also nudging at the inseparability of the two: the necessary symbiosis that makes art lifegiving, and life artful. While art enhances our lives, it won’t sterilize or diminish reality. And with all the unruly fun reality has to offer, nor would we really want it to. Link here to see more of Randal Ford’s work.