Raymond Baichtal
is an acrylic painter and multimedia artist located in minneapolis, minnesota. his work explores themes of transgender identity, body image and gender. he is interested in critiquing the ineffectiveness of man-made labels at capturing the nuance and complexity of human experience and uses color to express the vibrancy and diversity that exists beyond the scope of these categories.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
(RE) REBIRTH - MINNEAPOLIS COLLEGE AFA ART SHOW
i am excited to be showing these pieces and more alongside my classmates at the 2026 minneapolis college afa portfolio show. opening april 22nd 5-7pm.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
In a world that dehumanizes us and distances us from each other, art creates moments where we can experience a little sliver of what it is like to be somebody else. It becomes a means of resisting the hyper individualistic, apathetic society we live in. I think one of the most powerful aspects of any kind of art is that it connects us to one another and forces us to feel what others feel. My goal is to challenge societal narratives about transgender people and to change how people think about transness through my artwork.Only about 1% of US adults identify as transgender. So, for the majority of people, who have never knowingly met a transgender person, it is easy to accept any media narrative as the truth. The issue is the media twists, propagandizes and alienates transgender people, treating us as less than human, as sexual deviants. It's no accident — research in focus groups is conducted to figure out the most effective arguments against our existence in society, in sports, in bathrooms, particularly for our transgender sisters. Being vilified by the media is not limited to just transgender people and is an experience shared by many marginalized people.In addition to that shared experience, I also particularly enjoy exploring themes of body image, sex and sexuality because you don't have to be transgender to be able to have complex relationships with any of them. My understanding is that relating across these boundaries and building empathy is a means of fighting against the othering and stigmatization of transgender bodies, sex and sexuality, and to fight the manufacturing of consent for the criminalization of transgender bodies and healthcare.In my work, I like to use a lot of color. I'm interested in colors that don't "make sense" or are more than someone could see out in the world with their naked eye. I like to use vibrancy and saturation as a means of showing how much more there is to people than meets the eye, how many people fit outside the labels and boxes society places upon us.
