queerness: no homo, bro
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled" (billboard of an empty bed), 1991. what is queerness? what does it look like? how does it operate? what is its purpose? is there one? what is most important to note is the difference between sexual orientations and queer modalities. QUEER doesn't necessarily imply LGBTQ+, but is rather characterised by a defiance or non-normative approach to subjectivity. it is an aversion/subversion of the mainstream, cognisant or not. for example, i attended a conference last year and there was a speaker claiming that Donald Trump was our queerest president yet! obviously this doesn't imply that our misogynistic pussy-grabbing leader has ever sucked a cock. instead, it casts him as the commander-in-chief most unlike any other POTUS before him. sure, we've had controversial figures before, but come on... this guy is queer! so back to Gonzales-Torres: yes, he was a homosexual male artist, but his works...
