RANDY SIMMONS It's Not A Question of If, But When , 2022

RANDY SIMMONS  

It's Not A Question of If, But When , 2022 

51" x 41" 

charcoal and white conté 

$4,500 

@randysimmonsdrawings 

www.randysimmonsdrawings.com  

This drawing is about my mom and also references relationships specifically to some people’s ability to dump their partner and move on quickly. Have you been deleted by a former lover? 

Months before Mom passed, she was hallucinating that the staff where she stayed was taking her outside at night. Sometimes they left her in a field, other times, she was taken to a small raft and was transported to a larger boat in still black waters. She was scared and floated alone. She talked about this happening several times, and got visibly upset. I imagined the terror she felt being left alone in the dark in water, choking on the fear of drowning. I learned that people who have dementia start hallucinating at sundown thus giving them the name “sundowners”. 

All of the figures in this drawing are faceless and are placed in a wet marshland environment at night, the cat tails casting a faint spark of light at their ends. It’s unclear what the connection of the children is to the female or couple form but they appear to be in a pensive state. The space portrayed makes sense yet is impossible. Surreal and dream-like, closer to being a nightmare, this image is really dark for me and I found it emotionally difficult to create. The composition refers to a wedding cake and doubles as a face looking back at the viewer. 

The best place to view this drawing is kneeling on the floor.