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Quentin Tang

In a vague way I've felt estranged from every world I've walked across; my art makes the most of it. Be it my broken home in France, my beginnings in sexuality, integrating into British society, the closed-off world of drag queens, or landing in America. I've always fought to feel at home, to own a space. As such my worldview structured itself around autonomy, construction, morality, and change.

Individuals and groups interact in bizarre ways that supercede the intent of any subset of the group. This often unacknowledged fact is brought to the forefront of my pieces through displacement and deconstruction, often casting an ethical ambiguity over the artist and the participants. Materials commonly appearing in my work feature aspects of femininity, masculinity, artifice and organicity, they serve me in how they convey feeling, before their agency conveys potential narratives.

I come to art from artisanship and science, with a thorough background in French literature and European philosophy. Baudelaire, Rhimbaud, and Kant shaped my view on aesthetics; Camus, Ionesco and Hugo speak for society. I play with their creations both literally and idealistically. Influences are too various to name in my work, art has pushed me to believe more and feel more, it's part of what I want to do.

I've always believed that everyone would be better off if they thought more, that's my only purpose as an artist. After that, my work exists out of my grasp, I try to make no effort to hold onto it.

Fleurs II
Quentin Tang
2019
Trash & spray paint
One quarter of a dorm living room

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Portrait:

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