Samurai Sketchbook of Butch-Femme Art

[pinkgeek]

Originally Posted by Samurai Wanderer

I'm going to ask a question - what if anything makes this image queer other than we know it to be queer. While studying queer art sometimes all that made an image queer was the knowledge that the artist was queer (and there is nothing wrong with that) - other times there was a subtle tell - other times more obvious.

Your mileage may vary.

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by pinkgeek

I'm going to ask a question - what if anything makes this image queer other than we know it to be queer. While studying queer art sometimes all that made an image queer was the knowledge that the artist was queer (and there is nothing wrong with that) - other times there was a subtle tell - other times more obvious.

Your mileage may vary.

That's the great thing about art. It's entirely subjective.

This particular image, for me, is related directly to the artist and the medium she used to show it. But for some of the other images by the same artist, I see enough to let me know that the work, on its own, is Queer.

[Samurai Wanderer]

Originally Posted by pinkgeek

I'm going to ask a question - what if anything makes this image queer other than we know it to be queer.

Fantastic question! I'm interested to know too.

From this artist's perspective...

When I first showed the pic to some non-queer friends, they jokingly said, "Huh, you're drawing normal guy-girl now... That one's a total dude." I said, "Yeah. I thought I liked femslash, turns out I'm just another sucker for good ol' fashioned romance... with a twist." It's been a challenge and a fascination to find that elusive balance of masculinity and femininity in BF art. For 'Beach Splash', as well as 'Evening Wear', my foremost inspiration was based on a femme sentiment I've read in a few threads discussing butch masculinity. It went along the lines of "Why butches? If you like masculine so much, why not go with guys," and the reply was, "Because they have all the traits I want in a man, and not the ones that I don't want." I've been pondering on what that might mean, and dabbled in it through art with varying degrees of success. A man... who's not a man. Am still pondering.