Yongqi Tang

BIO

Born in China in 1997, Yongqi Tang attended the University of Washington and received a B.A. in painting and drawing in 2019 and an M.F.A in 2022. She is the recipient of the Boyer and Elizabeth Bole Gonzales Scholarship for Excellence and the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Artists Scholarship Award. Her studio practices involve a variety of materials such as oil, watercolor, acrylic, and charcoal.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Having studied and worked between China and America, my works have been influenced by the two countries' drastically different cultural and ideological contexts. Interested in how the interaction with the environing world would affect our existence, I question and deconstruct my roles in both private and public space by investigating the social construction of identities through the act of painting and drawing. My works examine the fluidity of our self-images and relate to the broader human experience of the ambiguousness of identities such as gender, sexuality, and nationality. The objective of my works is to reinterpret the categories into which we are born to rearticulate the discourse around them. My current works examine the ambiguousness to be in the liminal state between the alienation from my country of origin and the displacement at the current settlement. The works inspect how Chinese immigrants see themselves through the concepts others have of them and the groups they belong to and perform identities under the impact of the surrounding conditions.

Interview with Yongqi Tang

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you became interested in becoming an artist? Who or what were some of your most important early influences?

I was born in Shenzhen, China and came to the States in 2015 for college. I completed both my BFA and MFA at the University of Washington. I have been doodling since I have memory and never stopped, so there’s no one moment that I suddenly decided to become an artist, to me being an artist is natural. I was more into illustration and anime at the beginning; my earliest “fine art” or painting influence was impressionism and post impressionism. I was obsessed with Monet, Van Gogh and Morisot. The way they capture the light and the expressive brushstrokes really fascinated me.

Any stories you can share about early memories of how an aspect of the arts impacted you?

Besides what I have mentioned earlier, I still remember the first time I saw a true masterpiece in person. Shenzhen (where I was born and raised) didn’t have a good art scene, and my parents are not into art, so I never saw any real art until I was 13. We traveled to Europe, and I got to see art in Louvre and St. Peter's Basilica Church. Although I knew nothing, I was so dumbfounded by the arts and felt that they are the great ones. I think that’s the reaction when you are truly moved and connected to something.

Where are you currently based and what initially brought you there? Are there any aspects of this specific location or community that have inspired your work?

I am currently based in Seattle. I initially came here for college in 2015, and I have stayed here since then. I really like it because the city gets everything I need but it’s not too expensive, and the community is very diverse and queer, It is a cute city to live in!

Can you describe your studio space? What are some of the most crucial aspects of a studio that make it functional? Do any of these specific aspects directly affect your work?

I am using the studio space at my residency now, which is 300 sqft with two tables and a sink. It has a big window so there’s plenty natural daylight. I only have access to it for six weeks, so it doesn’t directly affect my works, but the studio I had at the University of Washington for two years had more impact on me since I have stayed there longer. The studio at UW was 600 sqft, and since it is so big, I tend to utilize this advantage to make giant works. The space allows me to step further and look at my works more, so I can see the big gesture more instead of focusing on small details. Moreover, my space has ample daylight, white walls, and concrete floor so I could easily turn that into a white cube. I could curate my tiny shows in my space and imagine how they would look in a gallery.

What is a typical day like? If you don't have a typical day, what is an ideal day?

I usually wake up at 10am and have brunch, after that, I would head over to my studio and work. I usually work for about 6 hours every day. After work, I will work out, go home, and read or watch movies.

What gets you in a creative groove or flow? Are snacks involved? ☺

Enough caffeine, sugar, and a good podcast will help.

Is there anything that interrupts and stagnates your creative energy?

Working at a full-time or part-time position besides painting is very exhausting. I must work around my schedule to make sure that I have enough time to stay at the studio. Works often used up my energy, which makes me want to just lay in bed and not go to the studio.

How do you select materials? How long have you worked with this particular media or method?

Before college, I was mainly using ink, graphite, and markers because I was more interested in illustration and anime. I chose them because those materials are better for fine line works. Then I was trained to use charcoal and oil painting the most when I was in academia, so now I am most familiar with them. I have worked with oil, charcoal, and watercolor for more than 5 years. It feels more natural to me to express an abstract idea or tell a story with oil and charcoal. However, I also want to try other materials such as clay and airbrush.

Can you walk us through your overall process? How long has this approach been a part of your practice?

I have developed a process that is sustainable for me during my grad school years, however, it might change when I continue my practice. Once I have an idea, I usually start by drawing freely from my imagination, then I would make a one-to-one-sized drawing of the painting. After that, I would make some color studies and then the painting. My paintings and drawings are worked in a relatively traditional way, so I don’t have “my” method of painting. Doing research and preparing well for the painting help me deepen my understanding of the subject matter.

Can you talk about some of the ongoing interests, imagery, and concepts that have informed your process and body of work overtime? How do you anticipate your work progressing in the future?

Though my focus has changed a lot over time, I am mostly interested in only two-dimensional images and language. I was obsessed with Japanese culture when I was a teenager, and my favorite was illustration and anime; therefore, my works focused on figures, lines, and bold color, which has not changed until now although I don’t have the same interest in illustration anymore. Then my interest shifted to impressionist paintings, renaissance paintings, and baroque paintings; now I am looking at more contemporary paintings and traditional Chinese ink paintings. In addition to paintings, I have also been influenced by films. I often reference the compositions of film stills and sometimes get conceptual inspiration from movies. For example, my MFA thesis title directly refers to Ang Li’s movie Eat Drink Man Woman. I felt they are relevant because the movie narrates the maintenance and destruction of the family structure around food, and my thesis is about the identity performance and Asian diasporic experiences around food. In the future, I would like to work more from imagination instead of photographs. I might also involve making sculpture/relief as part of my processes as it would serve as the physical existence of my imagination.

Do you pursue any collaborations, projects, or careers in addition to your studio practice? If so, can you tell us more about those projects, and are there connections between your studio practice and these endeavors?

I don’t pursue any collaborations now.

Have you had any epiphanies recently that have changed the course of your work or caused you to shift directions?

Not really!

As a result of the pandemic, many artists have experienced limited access to their studios or loss of exhibitions, income, or other opportunities. Has your way of working (or not working) shifted significantly during this time? Are there unexpected insights or particular challenges you’ve experienced?

I am very lucky that I had my family’s support during my grad school, and since I was still a student, I did not have a lot of resources in the first place, I didn’t feel the loss of exhibitions and opportunities because of the pandemic. Of course, there are some missed opportunities, such as canceled residencies, but I don’t think it has impacted me a lot.

Can you share some of your recent influences? Are there specific works—from visual art, literature, film, or music—that are important to you?

Recently I learned more about Heidegger and integrated some of his philosophy in my works. In Being and Time, he emphasized the importance of ontology and redefined how we should think about “Being”. He criticized the tradition of Western philosophy that it has neglected the meaning of Being and emphasized the importance of understanding it. It’s hard to explain in a few sentences how and why it has impacted me, but through understanding some of the core ideas such as the essence of Dasein, Being-towards-Death and Being-With-Others, I saw in his works a new possibility of the existential states.

Who are some contemporary artists you’re excited about? What are the best exhibitions you’ve seen in recent memory and why do they stand out?

I look at all kinds of painters and try to incorporate some of their strengths in my works. Here are some examples- Alex Kanevsky, Jenny Saville, Sasha Gordon, Jennifer Packer, Lisa Yuskavage, Anna Park, Salmon Toor, Kyle Staver, Anthony Cudahy, Maja Ruznic, Rae Klein… the list goes on and on. I just saw Henry Matisse’s Red Studio at MOMA, the show is put together elegantly. They put the red studio painting together with the paintings and sculptures in the painting. In some ways, the curators restore the original Matisse Studio in the gallery space.

Do you have any tips or advice that someone has shared with you that you have found particularly helpful?

Discipline is more important than whims when you create. Good work ethic is very important!

What are you working on in the studio right now? What’s coming up next for you?

I just finished the giant drawing for the final piece of my project “Eat Drink Man Woman”. I will make a painting version and work on the next project at the same time. I am going to make a triptych for my upcoming debut at ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair. This is my first appearance at the art fair, I am very excited!

To find out more about Yongqi Tang check out her Instagram and website.