Inside The Mind of Glumbojumbo
- The Source
- Jul 26
- 10 min read
Updated: Jul 27
Their work is unmistakable, even at the slightest glance. Take one look at a Glumbojumbo piece and you are instantly transported through the looking glass and into their world of surreal wonder. "Watercolor is really spontaneous, it's lively," Gray said as we looked upon their studio at IUSB, flanked on all sides by canvases and prints both big and small.
A fine arts graduate with a concentration in drawing and painting, Gray has a firm command of both the pen, the press, and the brush. Their meticulously detailed illustrations take your eyes on a fantastical journey the deeper you peer in, with a striking display of hues highlighting the whole way. Softly spoken and loudly dressed in a custom embroidered tie, Glumbojumbo speaks confidently through their ways of expression.
As we began to sit down and talk shop, Gray remarked on all the moving that would have to be done out of their school studio after now finally graduating. "It feels weird. I'm really happy to be done, but it's also just a new chapter that I have to explore." The afternoon's sweltering heat on campus grounds was a reminder of summer's arrival, and the next chapter in Glumbojumbo's artistic journey.
SOURCE: Take me through the origin story of the name Glumbojumbo?
Gray: I genuinely have no clue. Like, I think I just needed a username and it just popped in my head and I don't know, it kind of just stuck ever since. I like kind of how goofy it sounds. It doesn't really have a reason.
SOURCE: What kind of artist would you describe yourself as?
Gray: I would definitely say like a surreal, surrealist, abstract artist. I mainly do kind of fantastical, weird, surreal scenes and figures. I basically just like expressing myself however I want, so it usually ends up being something kind of strange.
"I love the way if you're putting watercolor on a page, it just starts flowing in such a unique way. It spreads out, mixes with other colors, but it kind of just does a lot on its own and is very delicate."
SOURCE: What is your very first creative memory?
Gray: I think I've always drawn a lot as a kid, although what started me with art was actually not exactly super expressive. It was more honing in how to draw. So I would basically just draw from life and things I was interested in. I drew a lot of Mario characters because that's what I was into. And so that's was how I learned how to draw, I'd say in like middle school. High school is when I started to draw more expressively and from my mind and channel some emotions in there. That's what I've been stuck on ever since.
SOURCE: What was it like moving from Chesterton to South Bend for school?
Gray: It was a pretty big difference. South Bend is definitely a way bigger city, it has a lot more opportunities for the art community, just a bigger community in general.
It was a bit overwhelming to move, but I moved into the dorms at IUSB and then befriended a lot of the friends I have now, my bestest friends. And through the art program— I'd never experienced something like that to have an art community, close friends, and people that were very accepting and just open.
SOURCE: What was the college experience like?
Gray: I definitely had to learn a lot of discipline with my time management, that was the biggest thing. I'm such a big procrastinator and so a lot of the projects earlier on I'd be up like all night before. I don't recommend it, but there is something about a time constraint that did help me lose the perfectionism that I had. So it was good and bad, I think. I definitely had to learn to give myself more time and be better about time.
SOURCE: And how did you do that?
Gray: I definitely still struggle with it, and it kind of depends on the person. I like working on something for large amounts of time-at- a time, some people like doing it a little bit at a time. What helped is to not feel so precious with my work and kind of feel like I can do whatever with it. Giving myself more time constraints— I would try to finish a piece like in a day. And I think that doesn't work for some people, but it worked for me in that I knew it didn't have to be perfect. I wouldn't be overthinking things that much, I would just be doing it until it's done and it would be what it is.
"I like having elements of realism in my abstractions."
SOURCE: What are some of the difficulties transitioning from drawing to painting?
Gray: I think the biggest thing was I had never painted, I was always drawing with pen or pencil. So paint, for me at least, it's like a lot more unexpected and harder to control.
And so at first I was kind of frustrated, like it wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. But I was trying to use the medium of paint as if it was a pencil and that's just not how it was. I had to use the medium as it was supposed to be used, if that makes sense. So getting more loose with it. That was the stepping stone for me getting over my perfectionism.
SOURCE: What style or discipline did you hone in on first?
Gray: Definitely realism, that is what I was focused on through high school and even my first couple years here at college. Realism definitely has its uses for me but I think I got less attached to it when I realized you can do a lot with abstract forms. I like having elements of realism in my abstractions, but I think basically recreating a photo is something I was no longer interested in. It became creating surrealist imagery with hints of realism.
SOURCE: How did you arrive at this surrealist style of yours?
Gray: I was experimenting with watercolor, I let the pigments create forms on the page and I used the texture and the weird shapes it made. I looked at it and then I kind of added in what I saw and added the details with pen. So basically I'm really inspired by the surrealists. They had this type of drawing called surreal automatism, or like automatic drawing. You basically just don't think too hard while you're drawing, and draw whatever your brain kind of defaults to. It's like the subconscious, and it lets you arrive at some usually abstract forms.
I was using it in a way where I already had abstract forms as a base, and then I was just drawing on top of it as to what I saw. It creates weird imagery, and it's easier to create something when you already have something to work with as a base. Not being too set on my destination, and willing to go with the flow while I'm drawing.
"FUNKYBONES" "ALL OF MY FAMILY'S PETS"
SOURCE: What attracts you to water colors so much?
Gray: I just love the way if you're putting watercolor on a page, it just starts flowing in such a unique way. It spreads out, mixes with other colors, but it kind of just does a lot on its own and is also very delicate. You can do a lot with it, it's my favorite to use for abstract.
"I get inspired by so many things I see. Usually weird, random things like oil stains or the way light is hitting something. Then I can see a form in things, you know, finding the picture within everyday items."
SOURCE: How did you get into printmaking?
Gray: At first it was just like, okay, I needed these credits. But it was such a great experience. Our professor who just retired, Bill Tourtillotte, he created this whole space in the print studio for us that was just so welcoming and fostered so much creativity and creative freedom that some of our other drawing classes, like fundamentals, didn't quite give us that. But here, he just let us make whatever. So I started taking those classes and they were just really great. A lot of printmaking is just drawing, but you're either reproducing it for like silkscreen or drawing on the stone for stone lithography. It's like a different way to do art, I like it a lot.
SOURCE: Looking at your great piece "Star Wars: The Last Supper" made me want to ask do you enjoy dabbling in pop art?
Gray: I feel like it's something I would want to get back into, but I haven't done that in a while except for that piece. I actually started it in high school, I think sophomore year and I didn't finish it until senior year because I just kind of forgot about it. But I would want to incorporate more pop art and different pop culture characters and stuff, but it's not something I'm currently doing. I kind of put in my mind I might try to do that more.
SOURCE: Who are some of your biggest artistic influences?
Gray: Historical-wise I would say Hieronymus Bosch. He does a lot of insane, surreal, really grand scenes. There's just so much going on, and I think that's one of my favorite things to look at when it's art, and something I want to do more in my art. Just these crazy compositions of so much going on.
"Christ Carrying The Cross" 
Scene from "The Garden of Earthly Delights" 
Scene from " The Garden of Earthly Delights"
For something more modern—Gladys Nilsson, she's a Chicago Imagist. (3:27) She also has really busy compositions of just weird forms and characters, and it's all colorful. She does watercolor, too. So I'd say those two, definitely. Also Wangechi Mutu. She has really surreal, distorted faces that she makes through collage, she's also really, really inspiring.
"Pretty Double-Headed" by Wangechi Mutu" 
"Riding Death In My Sleep" by Wangechi Mutu 
"Veggie Great" by Gladys Nilsson
"I would say to not be too intimidated to keep trying and to fail. It's fine, art does not need to be perfect. It's just you on a paper or whatever medium. It can be uncomfortable seeing yourself out there, it takes a vulnerability to put yourself out there in any way. But I think the reward is so worth it."
SOURCE: What inspires you?
Gray: There's a lot that inspires me daily. I take whatever's in my head and just make it tangible and visible, but I get inspired by so many things I see. Usually weird, random things like oil stains or the way light is hitting something. Then I can see a form in things, you know, like a tree or bark. Finding the picture within everyday items.
SOURCE: When did you start selling your art, and did any challenges come with that?
Gray: Definitely, I started selling my art maybe two years ago at this point, mostly at different art fairs like Rebel Art Fest and Art Beat. There was definitely a lot of challenges to sell at an art fair, mostly with setup. It's just something that I had never done before so I was doing it with some friends. Having your booth look inviting, having the right promotion or setup, basically. I definitely think at first it looked pretty bad but we're slowly figuring out how to set up to sell your art and welcome people in. Marketing yourself is really big, like people will need to know what you do.
And then there's selling online. I've sold a couple things online through my Instagram and online shop. It's pretty cool to be able to sell online to people, even internationally. I think the biggest struggle is still advertising yourself. You have to make your shop be known, you can't just have it exist and sit there, and nobody goes to it. I feel like there's a lot of similarities between in-person selling versus online, people have to know what you're doing, see your work, connect to it in some way. If they want to buy it they need to feel connected to it in some way, so that's also hard.
SOURCE: Do you feel about social media's role in the current state of art is positive or negative?
Gray: I see it as both. We were kind of talking earlier about the need for artists to be social media savvy, it's new, it's not always been this way, you know. And so it's a little unfortunate in that way that artists have to be artists and like influencers as well. It can be exciting if you're into that. It's kind of fun to post about your art and make reels, video art can be something fun to explore. But I don't know if everyone wants to be always marketing themselves in that way all the time. So it's just a new thing. I feel for artists who aren't really wanting to do that. And I don't know the other option at this point. But there's exposure, you can get seen by thousands of people that otherwise wouldn't see your art.
SOURCE: What are some of your long term goals now that you've graduated?
Gray: I want to keep making whatever comes to mind, basically. Eventually in life I'd want to make a comic, to be honest. Or maybe an animation, some sort of narrative story with my art style. It was recently that I just really got into the idea of wanting to tell a story.
SOURCE: What's your favorite animated film?
Gray: Paprika, it's a Japanese animated movie. It's very surreal. I think it's comparable to like Inception, so it's very trippy. There's this one scene of this parade through the the city and it's just so chaotic. There's just so much going on. I would recommend watching.
SOURCE: What's your favorite piece of yours?
Gray: Well it's hard because I am very self-critical and I always want to improve.
And so nothing's ever quite right, if that makes sense. But I'd say my favorite one I did just because it was so fun to make was this an oil painting that I did. I was kind of just doing whatever, but I was kind of thinking about a narrative and a story I wanted to tell. So that was really fun, the chaos. I love lots of weird textures and abstract forms. I really want to do more with the kind of social commentary themes and tackling bigger issues. It's not necessarily something I always do for sure, but it's something I want to try to do more of.
SOURCE: What is the one album you can't live without?
Gray: It depends, it might be Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens or Puberty 2 by Mitski.
SOURCE: What advice would you give to your younger self or any young creative out there?
Gray: Obviously the biggest one is to never stop creating. I feel like if you haven't even started, you can always start. I think everyone's an artist innately. There's so many ways to be an artist. I would say to not be too intimidated to keep trying and to fail. It's fine, art does not need to be perfect. It's just you on a paper or whatever medium. It can be uncomfortable seeing yourself out there, it takes a vulnerability to put yourself out there in any way. But I think the reward is so worth it.
The shout outs
Definitely my partner, Eli Lozano, Bill Tourtillotte, my other friend Arson Isenberg— they do comics. Dylan Fear, he was the other student in the studio, Link Odiorne (the artist behind the custom tie), Natasha Somerville who was the drawing and painting professor, and shoutout to the entire Fine Arts faculty at IUSB for creating such an amazing space for growing as an artist.
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