Lesbian Visibility Week and Art

 

These artworks were done on three separate occasions, all inspired by #sothebyssundaysketch but turned into original pieces. 

The Street Art works (blue and pink) were done on 2 separate occasions then clipped together for #lesbianvisibilityweek (LVW) depicting 2 non-binary lesbians in a loving relationship about to kiss. The shade of pink I used is a vibrant pink, meant to evoke the gay/lesbian colour of pink, as opposed to a feminine, pastel pink. I wish to symbolise how both are non-binary by depicting both women in blue and pink, to deconstruct the gender stereotype of pink is for girls and blue is for boys. People seem to forget that, not that long ago, it was the other way round and blue was stereotypically for girls and pink was a boys' colour! When you look at them above, you see that one is mostly blue and one is mostly pink but you are meant to envisage that either lesbian could be expressing either colour - neither is more butch or femme than the other. Their colours and gender expressions are fluid not static. In future artworks, the viewer shouldn't assume that they are not the same lesbians just because I use different colours to depict them. 🎨🌈

As you look at them, they are physically still yet in motion - I was trying to capture a sense of movement as they move towards each other to kiss. 💋

This artwork is a combination of my Picasso meets street art 1 & 2, facing each other and pinned together at the back. They are both standalone pieces (following on from Picasso's female muses) as well as half of a combined artwork to create this piece, titled: 'Face2Face: Lesbian Kiss'. I used street art pens (Winsor and Newton ProMarker pens: Pink; Yellow; Cyan  Blue) on newspaper (on the left) and (on the right) the back of a sheet of wrapping paper and the front of coloured wrapping paper (eye; lips) and the front of shiny wallpaper (clothing), both mounted on cardboard boxes. They are 3D pieces which together are 24cm × 56cm in size (12cm × 28cm each). 

The sculpture above, titled: 'The Ancient Greek Vase: Lesbians Kissing' takes this further and sees the same two women kissing. This time, drawn on a clay modelling vase, in an Ancient Greek style, using a pottery tool. Ancient Greece was perfectly comfortable with gay/lesbian relationships and non-binary genders. (It was only when Christianity took hold that being LGBT+ became an issue, in a negative way!) So the Ancient Greek theme was particularly relevant for LVW (26th April -2nd May).

It's my first attempt at using this clay modelling material (DAS Pronto clay modelling) but using my old pottery/clay modelling tools. It didn't go smoothly at first because it took me a while to get used to how this material shapes and its level of consistency. The pottery clay I used on the City and Guilds course was stronger and easier to mold so I could do more complicated objects, such as a bird. However, that pottery clay was a specialist type which needs to be fired in a dedicated kiln oven, which the pottery studio had on-site. It's a very different experience when you don't have specialist equipment, or even a regular oven in the kitchen to use for setting the clay! So I chose an air-drying type of clay and was pleased by its rate of drying - not too fast so I had time to experiment and reshape it until I was happy but fast enough that it is solid by the next day. I took this photo 📷 while it was setting (air drying) so this is prior to glazing it. 

This vase also relates back to Picasso because he also did ceramics. I saw some of them in an exhibition at a London Art Gallery a few years back. It was when I saw his ceramics that it struck me that pottery/3D sculptures and art are not two separate disciplines - they are all artworks and artists engage in both! 

I have cross-applied this street art theme into street dance for International Dance Day because they are parallel genres and Dance Day took place in the middle of Lesbian Visibility Week. Therefore I choreographed it with the overlapping purpose of both a dance video as well as a performance art video installation (showing art in performance). The 'street' element in both is: it's away from a studio, an institution, be it an art or dance studio. 

See my dance blog for the video of my street dance mentioned in this post:

https://danceaesthetic.blogspot.com/2021/04/international-dance-day-2021-street.html 

#lesbianvisibilityweek #lesbianvisibilityday 

#lesbianlove #lesbiankisses 

#lesbianart #non-binary