Tseng Kwong Chi (b. 1950 Hong Kong - d. 1990 New York City)
Best known for his self-portraits from a series he called “East Meets West” but also for his revealing images of other artists taken during the 1970s and 1980s as well as exploration in the media of performance art. After painting classes in Hong Kong at the age of 10, he was considered a child prodigy. In 1966 his family immigrated to Vancouver, Canada. He studied there and also in Paris at the Academie Julian, where he graduated with honors in 1975.
In the “East Meets West” series Tseng poses in what he referred to as his “Mao suit” in front of iconic architectural backdrops and appears as an invented persona, a sort of Chinese “Ambiguous Ambassador.” At once playful and also exploring the contrasts of truth, fiction, and identity, his work has been referred to as a cross between Ansel Adams and Cindy Sherman. In the late 1970s-1980s he lived in New York City and became friends with the artists Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Bill T. Jones, and other denizens of the downtown club and art scene. He documented many of Haring’s underground work including his subway drawings, political actions, and collaborations with other artists, which has resulted in the world’s largest photo archive of Haring’s work.
His exhibition history is quite extensive and worldwide and includes notable posthumous exhibitions presented by blue-chip galleries. His photographs are in the permanent collections of numerous museums including the Art Institute of Chicago; the Asia Society, New York; Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and many others.
