Tseng Kwong Chi (Canadian, b. Hong Kong, 1950–1990) East Meets West Manifesto, 1983, from the East Meets West series Chromogenic color print, printed 2014 71 x 71 in. Courtesy Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc., New York
Tseng Kwong Chi was a man ahead of his time, his artwork prefiguring so much of the contemporary art world. Whether pretending to be a Chinese “Ambiguous Ambassador” taking self portraits in a Mao suit and sunglasses standing in front of tourist spots like Statue of Liberty, Disneyland, and Notre Dame de Paris or crashing the “party of the year” at the Met’s Costume Institute and taking pictures with celebrities, security guards, and mannequins alike, Tseng Kwong Chi combines photography and performance art to brilliant effect.
Born in Hong Kong in 1950, Tseng moved to New York in 1978. During his ten-year career, he created over 100,000 photographs of his contemporaries, including Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, Madonna, Grace Jones, the B-52’s, and Fab Five Freddy, among others.
Tseng Kwong Chi (Canadian, b. Hong Kong, 1950–1990) Hollywood Hills, California, 1979, from the East Meets West series Vintage gelatin silver print, printed 1983 36 x 36 in. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Purchased with fund contributed by the Young Collectors Council, 1997, 97.4521
In 1990, Tseng died at age 39 from complications related to the AIDS virus, leaving an enduring body of work that engages major photographic traditions — the tourist snapshot, portraiture, the Sublime tradition of landscape photography, documentary and performance.
“Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera”, the artist’s first major museum touring retrospective, is on view through December 13, 2015, at the Chrysler Museum of Art. Co-organized with the Grey Art Gallery at New York University, the exhibition was conceived and curated by the late Amy Brandt, the Museum’s McKinnon Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art since 2011.
Tseng Kwong Chi (Canadian, b. Hong Kong, 1950–1990) Mille Fleur Garçons, Paris, France (Tseng Kwong Chi and Ya-Lin Wu Tchien), 1989 Gelatin silver print, printed 2014 15 x 15 in. Courtesy Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc., New York
“Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera” features more than 80 photographic works, as well as archival materials. In addition to works from his seminal series East Meets West, the exhibition includes works from “It’s a Reagan World!,” a collaboration with Ann Magnuson, and his 1981 “Moral Majority” series. With artist Kenny Scharf as his assistant, Tseng convinced leading figures of the Reagan era—William F. Buckley, Jr., Jerry Falwell, and Alphonse d’Amato, among others—to pose in front of a heavily wrinkled papier-mâché American flag said to look like Old Glory blowing in the wind.
As an artist, Tseng was able to act transgressively by exposing people’s prejudices and privileges in a manner that was neither mean-spirited nor was it cynical. Rather, Tseng embodied the best aspects of satire in his work, he was punching upward with wit, with verve, and with a tongue firmly planted in cheek. By finding the absurd and celebrating it, Tseng was able to embrace as well as to critique American culture, politics, and art in one fell swoop.
Tseng Kwong Chi (Canadian, b. Hong Kong, 1950–1990) Art After Midnight, New York, 1985 Vintage gelatin silver print 36 x 36 in. Courtesy Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc., New York
As a costumed chameleon, Tseng was able to move between boundaries with an awareness that was well ahead of the times, being like Andy Warhol able to perceive a day when the “Selfie” would reign supreme. Yet it Tseng’s work, the Self becomes more porous, more open to interpretation, more open to your projections and dreams.
As Tseng noted of his work, each element of his costume is chosen for specific effect. He revealed, “My mirrored glasses give the picture a neutral impact an a surrealistic quality I am looking for. I am an inquisitive traveler, a witness of my time, and an ambiguous ambassador.”
“Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera” is on view now through December 13, 2015, at the Chrysler Museum of Art.
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
