ARTIST STATEMENT
My current work is made in an effort to document my transition into adulthood. Painting has always been a tool I use to document all facets of my life, but most prominently, the experience of growing up in a small midwestern town surrounded by a special kind of judgment and close-mindedness. My work speaks to my past self, a teenage girl who was often ridiculed for material reasons like so many others, and to all young girls who feel held back by the confines of what other people thought. At this point, I find so much comfort and freedom in reclaiming many of the traditionally feminine things I enjoyed as a girl through my art.
Though a traditional bimbo is one that is generally seen as hyper feminine, and therefore, lesser than, the modern bimbo is anyone who wants to reclaim this title. The bimbo could be someone like me, who wants to indulge their inner teenage girl and embrace the hyper-femininity I once hid, or someone quite the opposite. In a broader sense, I feel the bimbo is someone who is not afraid to express themselves, someone who is a role model, an activist, a bad bitch in every sense of the word, and someone who doesn’t listen to anyone that drives a Ford F-150.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Brooke Raven is a 19-year-old multimedia artist from central Illinois living in Pilsen, Chicago. She is currently studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the process of earning her BFA in painting and drawing.
© Brooke Raven