Bloomington-based graphic designer and visual artist Trevor Basham has his first solo show on view in the McLean County Arts Center. It's a collection of vibrant hand-drawn in acrylic marker pieces on watercolor paper, primarily featuring throwback cartoon characters—in sometimes compromising, sometimes violent situations.
Basham knew he had the show about a year ago. But he didn't know what to call it.
“I had a little list going and nothing was really popping to me,” he said in an interview for WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “But then this kid from an area band was messaging me about some design work. And he’s like, man, I’ve been trying to describe your work to people. I don’t really know what to call it. I’ve just been calling it ‘hardcore bubblegum.’”
Basham ran with it. Hardcore Bubblegum runs side-by-side with a solo show by painter Jessica Benjamin and the center's celebrated amateur exhibition, now in its 98th year. All three shows are open to the public through April 23.
Basham’s design work includes time at Meltdown Creative Works and Half Hazard Press, which used to operate out of the current Hangar Art Company space. His independent portfolio includes a bunch of bands, White Oak brewery and hosts of logos and T-shirts for Twin City businesses.
Basham is also a resident artist at the Hangar Art Company in Bloomington, where he’s also showing skateboard deck art as part of the second annual Derp Fest this weekend. The pieces on display in Hardcore Bubblegum are all new, created over the past six months and channeling ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia.
It’s a departure from Basham’s typical style, which is heavily influenced by American Traditional tattooing—eagles, roses, swords and clipper ships drawn with bold, heavy outline in primary and secondary colors.
Hardcore Bubblegum is not that.
“I was like, I just really want to draw Garfield and Simpsons characters,” he said.
Look closer, and you’ll see Lisa Simpson is missing a few teeth. Garfield’s guts are strewn every which way. Snoopy is a ghost. That sounds gory, but Hardcore Bubblegum is no more unsettling than Saturday morning cartoons. Basham finds balance, adding flying pizzas, cute flowers and Ms. Pacman to the milieu—borrowing more from New School tattooing in its use of bright, neon colors, warped, distorted perspective and a hallmark of that style: big, googly eyes.
Basham called the show “an explosion of imagination.”
“I try to pack it in as much as I can,” he said. “I like to have all the artwork interacting with each other, so your eye is constantly moving throughout the piece and you’re finding new things everywhere.”
Hardcore Bubblegum is on view through April 23 at the McLean County Arts Center, 601 N. East St. in Bloomington. Derp Fest is Friday through Sunday at the Hangar Art Co., 105 W. Jefferson St. Art created over the weekend will be available for sale in an online auction through April 4. For details, visit Derp Fest’s Instagram: @derpfest2025.
