December 2011
November 2011
my art, race, and gender
What bugs me is when people approach me and ask me why I don’t paint black women. Just because I am of color does not mean I am obligated to paint my race. Most of the time I don’t even paint realistic skin tones so some of those girls in my work are in fact of color. And I have plenty of work I have done using of color women as well as projects dealing with race, lots of my work deals with race and gender. I feel in order to talk about blackness you have to talk about otherness. No one really ever asks me what my art is about or what a specific piece is about they just see it for what the image is rather than even trying to figure out what I am saying. It’s already difficult being a women artist but then being of color and then I think it becomes even more difficult being queer and doing work that I do because I feel like its taken as me drawing/painting naked women because it’s me expressing my sexuality (so I’ve been told). My work doesn’t really have anything to do with my preference of gender, my work is based off of media, and series of personal narratives which depicts what type of women reference I use. I’m not an artist who focuses on african american culture as whole, it comes into my work but it’s not something I will only focus on. Once you have a style in art that is what you are really known for and it puts you in a really hard to escape box. I’m not claiming a style yet I’m not claiming a title as an artist. I won’t call myself a feminist artist, yet…My work does deal a lot with those issues and is similar with other feminist artists but I’m not mature enough as an artist yet to claim that title. Race even gets brought up by my professors. I did a piece on my dad and because I painted him black (not skin tone black but actually black) and other dark hues my professor asked me why if he was the white one in my family. Nothing in that piece was realistic none of the colors and I told him because it wasnt a piece about race I wasn’t focusing on his color. I’m working on a piece currently dealing with me not feeling like I could ever be the women of color who I look up to and admire because of my mix of races forever putting me in this awkward juxtaposition. When I brought this up to my professor who is a white male, proceeded to ask me if for references of women will I be using ebony and or jet magazine. Its comments like those that always rub me the wrong way…like why did that even come out of your mouth
idk I wanted to write more but I think I’ll just end it here
21 in 21 days.
My art to do list.
Mixed media
- Finish my toe tag iconic water color series
- Finish editing my video for my shame
- redo my fear and loathing project
- Do my Envy project
Studio
- Complete my huge ass painting
Drawing into print
- write proposal
- Finish instillation piece
Figure painting
- Finish self portrait
- Do the final compositional abstract painting
Photography
- Continue lace and ladies series
^^this right here just depressed and further stressed me out but it needed to be done.
Today I was suppose to go thrifting and to the studio
the thrift stores were all closed -__- lol my life
and I really cant bring myself to go into my studio just yet, I’m still on break mode.
Today didn’t go as planned but I did buy a pair of jeans which I’ve been avoiding on doing for about 2 years now 0_o, it was about that time obviously
Plans for today
- thrifting
- studio
- regret not doing any work all break.
