The Story So Far, Opening July 12

Growing up in Philadelphia, C.J. Randall says he was fed a “steady visual diet of the great fantasy and sci-fi films of the ’80s.” But it was The Dark Crystal, a mystical movie that follows a young elf, that changed everything. Randall’s father took him to see the film at seven years old. Afterward, the young boy went home and drew a pivotal scene on a giant sheet of paper. In the coming years, he’d continue drawing, culling inspiration from the era’s “grim, gritty, beautiful, [and] brutal black-and-white comic books.” This passion for illustration led him to Kutztown University, where he earned a BFA, and eventually to Asheville in 2001. Since settling in the mountains, Randall has worked as a puppeteer with Red Herring Puppets, contributed to the Black Lives Matter mural in Pack Square, and exhibited at dozens of downtown venues. This summer, he’ll present a series of vividly narrative mixed-media pieces at BlackBird Frame & Art as part of a solo showcase. “I want [visitors] to get the same sense of magic and awe that I felt when I went to the movies as a kid,” Randall tells Asheville Made. “To be transported out of the everyday and feel something powerful, resilient, [and] graceful.”