About
Christine Randolph is a New York-based artist and licensed art therapist whose work investigates the unconscious through intuitive drawing. Her process is rooted in spontaneity; she often begins with scribbles or doodles, drawing with closed eyes or her non-dominant hand to bypass conscious control. Inspired by psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott’s “squiggle” technique, her drawings give form to internal characters and dreamlike narratives that reflect both personal and collective struggle.
With a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied under Abstract Expressionist Richard Pousette-Dart, and an MA in Creative Arts Therapy from Pratt Institute, Randolph merges clinical insight with raw artistic expression. Her decades of work with psychiatric clients deeply inform her practice, and she credits these "outsider" artists as muses for their emotional authenticity and lack of pretense.
Her work has been exhibited at the Queens Museum, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Hopper House, and Rockland Center for the Arts, and is included in several notable collections. She is also the founder of the Rockland Living Museum, a pioneering art space for individuals with chronic mental illness.
"My clinical training as an art therapist and work with a wide range of psychiatric clients has deeply informed my art. I witnessed countless “untrained” artists create works of great emotional power and spirit. Observing them work without self-consciousness, I felt a sense of freedom and personal agency for myself. Often, their artistic styles were very stimulating, and I found myself incorporating elements of their work into my own. These artists became my unexpected “muses,” and I credit them with inspiring me and pushing me out of my comfort zone. From a long-view perspective, these drawings represent my navigation of difficult times and inner struggles. Disparate worlds collide, humor and whimsy are an antidote to despair, and the absurd balances reality. I am a voyeur, peering into houses, hospitals, bars, backyards, probing into windows that hold mystery and secrets. Angst is everywhere, and so is love. Between the pandemic, the loss of democracy here and abroad, the violence in Ukraine and Palestine, endless racism, new fascist trends, environmental disaster, and personal internal conflicts, these drawings have given me focus, stability, and sometimes even joy or a laugh. They have provided a cathartic outlet for tumultuous and polarizing emotions and kept me sane in an insane world." - Christine Randolph