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DJ Morrow
11
make.co
BALLOONS AS ART
AS THERAPY
BALLOONSINBOLD.COM
DJ Morrow is blowing up balloon art,
turning a medium mostly associated with
children’s birthday parties into a canvas fit
for fine art galleries.
The 27-year-old Texan had been
twisting balloons into various characters
as a Houston-based party entertainer for
eight years before the Covid-19 pandemic
deflated his business. Depressed and
anxious about an uncertain future
and dwindling finances, he reached
for something he knew how to inflate,
repurposing black balloons as darkness
surrounding a wax hand clutching a light
bulb. “It was just that idea of using art as a
lifeline when you have nothing else to hold
on to,” he tells Make: of the piece Reaching.
It was his next piece, though, that truly
convinced him balloons were capable of
serious artistic expression. He recreated
his favorite painting, Saturn Devouring His
Son by Francisco Goya, and the stunning
sculpture was quickly upvoted to the top of
Reddit.
“I decided this is the moment where I
need to just unshackle myself,” Morrow
says. “Stop playing towards people’s
expectations of what balloon art is, and just
be honest and raw.”
Since then, his works have only grown
in scale and complexity, using a technique
called balloon weaving to craft large figures,
which contrast the colorful fun of the
medium with darker contemplative themes
of isolation and anxiety. “The new direction
has given me the outlet that I needed to deal
with my emotions and to have hope that
things can get better — not just for me, but
for society at large.”
Morrow has been busy inspiring others by
teaching at balloon conventions around the
country while preparing for his first solo art
show this spring. Time, he says, is always
the biggest challenge, as balloons lose air
after 30 hours, so, “once you start twisting,
the clock starts running.” —Greg Gilman
M85_010-13_MOE_F1.indd 11M85_010-13_MOE_F1.indd 11 4/10/23 11:11 AM4/10/23 11:11 AM
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