Today we’d like to introduce you to Finn Basil.
Hi Finn, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Finn Basil (he/they) is a storyteller, multimedia artist, and third generation photographer. They have been actively shaping their particular combination of otherness, queerness, transness, kink, surrealism, & sparkle in the Nashville arts scene since 2009. Teddy’s current focus lies in exploring healing, processing, expression, and strengthening through art, movement and pleasure.
A member of the Music City Fuckettes and an alumni of Nash Burley. When he’s not performing as Teddy Bow you can catch him making smutty art and artsy smut in the form of drawing, painting, photography and other mediums. He loves mixing and mashing vintage vibes with modern stories and values.
————
Art has been one of the largest and most important parts of my life ever since I can remember. From my first attempt at abstract art as a kid- paint on pale pink construction paper shoddily preserved with a piece of seran wrap limply clinging to the front to watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media pieces that help me process my feelings, big things like loss, pleasure, my cancer journey, being queer and trans in this world, some for sharing and some only ever meant for me.
Sharing some of my first poems started in a journal with dolphins on it to poetry.com to see how it felt, getting a horror story I had written in sixth grade taken away when others were reading it in class, the zebra print composition notebook with a few writings my high school creative writing teacher probably didn’t need to see. Writing two poetry chap books, one with my illustrations inside.
Being sent to the principle’s office in elementary school for drawing a too scandalous depiction of a bachelor party to being told that a print of one of my paintings inspired a couple to do their whole bathroom up with a theme of kinky, queer art.
Expressions of myself through draglesque and dance, exploring gender, sexuality, absurdness. Live performance with it’s sense of person to person connection.
Different seasons of life call for different combinations of mediums. Circling back to a medium I haven’t played with in a while feels like calling an old friend and picking back up from where you are now.
Directing a bizarre video with a loose plot on a camcorder with friends at a sleepover, learning photography in my high school’s dark room, taking every photo class they had and creating one of my own when I ran out, producing several short films and a music video during my time at Watkins College, to falling in love with creating portraits with people
Taking my first yoga class at a YMCA in my hometown, studying yoga in Nashville with steadfast & true. Learning to deal and work with multiple chronic illnesses turning my studies and eventually my classes to teaching Yoga Nidra to help with the lack of quality rest I was seeing myself and those around me. Creating courses like Pelvic Floor Health for AFAB folks because I wished that I had a better guide.
Making sense of the way I see the world. Asking more questions.
Most recently-
Exploring Gelli printing, finishing a kinky watercolor and ink series, pouring words into poetry- working on another chap book
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road hasn’t been very smooth. The struggles laid the foundation for what I do and are the reasons behind my work.
Some obstacles & challenges in no particular order-
Finding Nashville actors that were willing to play queer roles
Finding ways to show my work in which it won’t be censored
Exploring gender, sexuality, and kink in my work
Being an openly queer, trans artist in The South
Policies that make it harder to perform drag & burlesque in TN
Cancer- continuing to create at the hardest points, facing the contrasting emotions and letting them exist together, letting my physical and art practice meet me where I was at, making the art I needed to make at times even if it wasn’t palatable, learning to let go of control and perfectionism- bled over into my art practice
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Photography, painting, multi-media art, otherness, queerness, transness, kink, surrealism, & sparkle
Prefering more manual artistic practices
Creating unique portraits where people can share a side of themselves they may not often get to
Bringing my unique perspective to my storytelling
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Best- The nature surrounding our city, the queer and artsy pockets that exist and the creativity it takes to keep that thriving in the Southern US
Least- Political policies actively working to make queer, trans, and disabled lives harder, oversaturation of tourism,
Contact Info:
- Website: https://etsy.com/techincolorpleasures
- Instagram: technicolorpleasures
- Youtube: basilflow
- Other: https://instagram.com/xoteddybow
