Goldie Raye is a recent graduate from UW-Madison who studied printmaking, painting, and graphic design. Her print and illustration work conceptually focuses on gender identity and defining the female/queer gaze. But please, bring your sense of humor along for the ride.
This series depicts female figures in playful situations together, rerouting heterosexual oriented styles of early American illustration, drafting a new narrative to show art that was once steeped in the male gaze can exist too for femme lesbians. This series sheds much needed light on the femme or "lipstick" lesbian, and points out that her identity can be wrapped up in how she physically expresses her sensuality, acknowledging the influences of what we understand to be heterosexual male preference. Goldie Raye's art tries to make the point that women can find this same femininity sexual and appealing too; that we can even define ourselves by our desire to be a sexual object, a notion commonly demonized by feminist theory in art culture. "Those feelings are all totally okay, baby. I want to be here and make art to show femme girls we are here and we aren't all quiet. Some of us are openly drawing about it."