Roxane Gay: On Mss, Not Belongg, and What Beg Queer Tght Her About Beg a (Bad) Femist - Lambda Lerary

Contents:

• AUTHOR ROXANE GAY, WHO LOV ART BUT DISLIK THE ART WORLD, HAS SOME ADVICE FOR GALLERI: ‘STOP BEG TERRIBLE’
• ROXANE GAY: ON MSS, NOT BELONGG, AND WHAT BEG QUEER TGHT HER ABOUT BEG A (BAD) FEMIST
• THE RISE OF ROXANE GAY
• ‘I’LL ALWAYS BE A BAD FEMIST!’: ROXANE GAY ON LOVE, SUCCS – AND UPSETTG PIERS MAN

AUTHOR ROXANE GAY, WHO LOV ART BUT DISLIK THE ART WORLD, HAS SOME ADVICE FOR GALLERI: ‘STOP BEG TERRIBLE’

Roxane Gay is known for her laser-sharp w cultural cricism and nonfictn works, but lser known is her growg practice as an art llector. While Gay and Millman are unifyg their llectns, their distctive approach to how and what they llect are still visible. Millman’s robt engagement wh the art world for nearly 30 years provis a strong foundatn for the llectn she now shar wh Gay.

Photo by Elizabeth Carababas for Artsy.Gay was born Omaha, Nebraska, to parents of Haian scent. Comg om an amic background, Gay has emerged as a key cril cultural voice to a large public dience over the past .

Although she grew up wh parents who llect, Gay has only recently directed her attentn towards an art llectn of her own.

ROXANE GAY: ON MSS, NOT BELONGG, AND WHAT BEG QUEER TGHT HER ABOUT BEG A (BAD) FEMIST

Gay se her art llectn as a powerful tool that n transform the image of what an art llector looks like to a popular dience. Durg a nversatn this past March, Millman and Gay discsed their llectg origs, the artists they admire, and the roadblocks that n renr art llectg accsible for emergg llectors.Installatn view, top to bottom: Stanza om Maxim, To Himself by Charl Olson, crafted by Kathere Good. Roxane Gay: My parents llect Haian art, so I knew about art llectg through them.

Fun fact: was livered by “Käthe Kollwz.” D.M.: It’s excg bee startg to llect together says, “I share this visn wh you,” which, really, we already knew, bee we’re married.R.G.: Agreed.Portra of Debbie Millman and Roxane Gay wh Jean-Michel Basquiat, For Leonardo, 1983. Roxane Gay has n out of wall space. Last week, I lled Gay at home to talk about her llectn, which she has begun postg about ocsnally on Twter, where she’s also amassed a cult followg of 830, 000.

THE RISE OF ROXANE GAY

Below, Gay opens up about toxic gallery culture, the prsur placed on creativ of lor, Seth Rogen’s ceramics, and what visual art do and don’t do for her wrg.

A work by Carole Wells Chandler Gay’s home. Photo urty Roxane Gay.

‘I’LL ALWAYS BE A BAD FEMIST!’: ROXANE GAY ON LOVE, SUCCS – AND UPSETTG PIERS MAN

It probably didn’t help, too, when she found out you were Roxane Gay. From verg pop culture, to wrg betifully crafted short stori Roxane Gay has long been a prolific onle prence.

This summer Gay’s book of says, Bad Femist (Harper Perennial, 2014)—culled largely om her prodig onle archive—was released, beg a touchstone text for those who unrstand that life is (to borrow a word om the terview below) msy. In the book we get to know Roxane Gay, a bisexual Haian Amerin woman who havg survived amia to achieve her PhD is now an Associate Profsor of English at Purdue Universy. Along the way the rear is ved to revel Gay’s love of Scrabble, nsir the power of the Hunger Gam, and gleam tips on how to be a good girliend.

Durg a summer that saw Laverne Cox h the big time, Fergon revolt, Beyonce perform “Flawls, ” and the ntug bate over women’s bodi, Bad Femist seems to have arrived right on time—not to liver answers, but to entice rears to jo Gay chippg away at what is expected and what is rpected, and to embrace the ms and the perspective of beg an outsir. Roxane Gay. Roxane Gay—not that that matters, but I know who I am.