BRENDAN LEE SATISH TANG

My artistic practice embodies the influences, tensions and contradictions that define the postmodern world. At once, my works exhibit the paradoxical tendency to be irreverent, frivolous, and playful, as well as thoroughly engaged in critical reflection. Admittedly, my aesthetic is driven by a hedonistic engagement with visual culture, yet I remain apprehensive about the all-encompassing diversions of contemporary society. Although my works are non-functional, I often employ vessel forms, or otherwise allude to incongruous functionality (for example, “wiring” of non-electronic parts). These apparent tensions may be particularly salient to my chosen field of ceramics, a medium interested in the notion of art versus craft.

As evidenced in my reconfiguration of historical art traditions and my use of mixed media, I am intrigued by cultural appropriation and hybridity. Undoubtedly, these predominant themes in my work are a reflection of my own ambiguous cultural identity. Although I am considered Asian Canadian within the dominant culture’s framing, my family has lost even vestiges of connectivity to Asia through several generations of intercontinental migration and ethnic intermarriage. I have used self-portraiture to explore issues of race, class and sexual identity in greater depth.

Through my approach to art making, I work as a visual ethnographer – documenting and interpreting contemporary culture through my own assumptions, preferences, values and personal history. My aim is to create work that serves as a portal for reflection and dialogue.

Brendan Tang was born in Dublin, Ireland of Trinidadian parents and is a naturalized citizen of Canada. He earned his formal art education on both Canadian coasts and the American Midwest, where he learn to appreciate the ceramic medium. Tang has lectured at conferences and academic institutions across the continent, and his professional practice has also taken him to India, Europe and Japan. He has been a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts (Helena, MT) and has participated in an international residency at the European Ceramic Work Centre (‘s-Hertogenbosch, NL).

Tang has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in QB, and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, as well being a recipient of the 2016 Biennale Internationale de Vallauris contemporary ceramic award. He has been profiled by The Knowledge Network, and featured in printed publications including The National Post, Wired (UK and Italy), and ELLE (Canada). Tang’s work can be found in such collections as the Seattle Art Museum, the Ariana Muse in Geneva SW, Canada House in London (UK) and the Art Bank of Canada.

Tang dedicates his full attention to his professional art practice in Vancouver BC, where he continues to explore the interface between culture and material.