by irene Rumbero

they/she/he

@ixrumbero

artist bio:

“25-year-old non-binary lesbian artist. Born and based in Madrid, where I studied Fine Arts and currently work as an art teacher.

My work is rooted in visual and plastic experimentation, mainly focused on oil painting and digital art. I explore everything that moves through me: my friendships, my musical tastes, my girlfriend, and my LGBTQ+ inspirations.

Always from a queer perspective that I strive to bring into every piece, marked by a spontaneous, deconstructed, youthful, in alliance with failure, with movement and vibrant spirit. Seeking and searching. Alive, after all.”

Tell us about your relationship between your art and identifying as a lesbian:

I think about Louise Bourgeois’s knots or Jenny Holzer’s quote from her series Truisms: “All things are delicately interconnected” and how those images speak to me. I couldn’t be an artist if i was not a lesbian, and being an artist feeds my identity like they depend on each other to thrive.

My art is truthful because i’ve worked hard to be so with myself and my surroundings. My work is always searching and based on exploration, on finding new tools, new ways to communicate better with the outside, looking to understand myself. That’s the way being a lesbian and queer has taught me to approach the world, it has made me more aware of details. I express myself through the combination of both, I make sense of myself through that union.

TELL US ABOUT THE PIECE YOU’RE SUBMITTING:

This digital artwork is the first of my new series “Pride Paintings” where I try to focus and highlight queerness through resistance, tenderness and diversity by the hand of some reference of mine and our community.

I couldn’t find a better way to start other than with Leslie, one of our biggest references in our history. Stone butch Blues has made an impact on generations, and I feel like it’s such an important topic to bring to the table now that he/him lesbians are starting to be a discourse on the internet.