Coming Out, $10 code, New Art
Hello!
Tomorrow (Oct 12) I’m releasing a set of new original paintings at 8am Pacific time. In the future I plan to set up a presale option for the mailing list, but until I figure out how to make my website do that, I wanted to give you this instead - use the code ALGORITHMFREEART10 for $10 off an original painting, tomorrow only.
Today is National Coming Out Day and I wrote two pieces on it:
My therapist has been saying I should work on talking to non-queer people about my gender, or as some put it: “coming out.” It’s been on my mind as I prepare this set of paintings to release tomorrow.
When we say “I don’t get abstract art,” it’s often pointing out that the art doesn’t look like a thing we already know. It’s not a flower or a face. It brings up questions of validity- is this real art? What’s the point of something that doesn’t fit with the concepts we already understand? How do we know if it’s good if we don’t know what it’s supposed to be?
It’s the familiarity of these reactions that draw me in and make abstract art feel very queer to me. Being non-binary is like being an abstract painting. It’s not immediately apparent what it means, it might be hard to “get” depending on your starting point. While it might reference mainstream genders, it remixes those elements into something new. And is nonetheless very real, and quite worth being.
So there’s a similar vulnerability in sharing my art and gender- both deeply personal things that invoke my hiding instinct; both living things that would like to make their way into the world, to spark connection not isolation.
Sending love to everyone figuring out how to share their queerness with those who will understand and those who won’t, those who lean in to learn and those who step back. It’s an art, it’s optional, there’s no rush, and you can trust yourself. Stay safe out there.
It’s #nationalcomingoutday ⚡️ a few thoughts:
-telling non-queer people about our queerness is not what it means to “live as our true selves”
-our queerness is ours before, during, after we talk about it
-“coming out” feels good when it’s a reflection of trust and intimacy
-coming out can be so painful and sometimes dangerous when it surfaces bigotry in people we love or are affected by, when violence towards us is heightened
-queer joy depends on the safety to enjoy it. Protect yourself
-we never need to use our stories to ‘change hearts and minds’
-self knowledge changes all the time. It’s normal for there to be a lag in knowing how to talk about it, and who we’d like to talk about it with
-share your story in freedom, freedom, freedom only
See you tomorrow at 8am Pacific for all new pieces!