Welcome to the magical, queer and wonderful world of Colour Burst ! Colour Burst was a character I created as an alter ego back when I was around 15 years of age. The name came from a line in Katy Perry's song Firework, where she sings, "come on, let your colours burst". The song is always a reminder of who I am and where I come from and my father always says that when he hears the song, it always reminds him of me. And so Colour Burst was born. They were a persona I could use in an artistic form to create both visual and written pieces of art in a more colourful and experimental way, whilst staying true to my authentic self. Ever since then they have always really stuck with me but have never been fully realised into a physical artistic form, until now.
Last year I was approached by Midtown Makers, in Ballymena, to see if I would like to showcase some work in one their windows as part of a new concept they have put together to showcase two different local artists each month of the year in their shop front windows. Originally I was scheduled to showcase work back in March of this year but after the Valentines collection I had the seed of an idea to create a collection which showcased something completely different. Something I've wanted to play around with for so long but never approached until now. So the date was pushed back until June, giving me a short time frame of 3 months to work and play around with the concept of Colour Burst to create a collection of work that would be different to anything I have previously done before.
When ink hit the page the illustrations came so naturally. The first one I created was 'Just Clownin Around'. The name itself pretty much describes exactly what I was doing, just clownin around, playing with how I wanted to illustrate this character that I have always had as part of my inner child for all these years. I wanted them to be colourful, fun, queer and quite literally a burst of colour.
When creating work I hate being boxed into one discipline, so I use various different mediums and concepts within my work. For most of my illustrations this is usually a combination of inks, acrylics and rhinestone/sequin embellishments.
Once I had fully realised Colour Burst, I thought about what story I wanted to tell with this collection. Being a queer artist has not came easily to me and in fact it is only recently I have actually been more confident in how I want to present myself to the world around me and explore my own queer artistic self. So when creating this collection I wanted to create work that would make you feel confident and inspired to be your true authentic self.
I did an entire collection of illustrations of Colour Burst in various different forms. Showcasing both his confident and more vulnerable sides along with accompanying quotes which were also inspired by musical lyrics and things I wanted to say myself. I remember when the full sized, fully realised prints arrived in the post I almost shed a tear as this collection is so personal and meaningful to me. I was finally able to share both my inner child and a brand new character with the world around me. In hope that they could help inspire others to be happy with who they are to and bring about change in a colourful and artistic form. When crating this collection I created it in a way so that it can be transported to various different locations, as I want take Colour Burst on travels across our little island of Ireland and further a field.
So what's next for Colour Burst ?
This is truly only the beginning ! Colour Burst will be at Midtown Makers until the first week of July. After that they will be going to a few different locations which I can't yet reveal but it's very exciting as you will be seeing a lot more Colour Burst during pride season in the coming weeks ahead. I've also playing around with a few different ideas at the moment and bringing Colour Burst to life in full physical form.
So keep an eye out for the weeks ahead where more will be revealed ...
For now you can still view the 'You Are Everything' collection at Midtown Makers, Ballymena, Church Street. There is also a new collection of Colour Burst merchandise and prints available from Midtown Makers, BSOA Art shop and soon Pierced By Them. If you would like to keep updated with announcements you can sign up to my mailing list or follow me on my socials. You can also send me an email at jordainmolloygillen@gmail.com.
I also want to give a special thank you to my partner, family, friends and loved ones for always supporting me and for being an inspiration to me and my work. And a big thank you to Jim at Midtown Makers and the guys at Patton Crafts for being such a major help and backbone to helping me put together this collection.
I can't wait to share more with you all soon !
Jordain Molloy Gillen