Tseng Kwong Chi
1950-1990
Tseng Kwong Chi was a photographer, performance artist and New York downtown personality who evolved two major bodies of work.
Tseng’s most famous body of work is his self-portrait series, East Meets West, also called the “Expeditionary Series.” In the series, Tseng dressed in what he called his “Mao suit” and sunglasses and photographed himself situated in front of iconic tourist sites. These included the Statue of Liberty, Cape Canaveral, Disney Land, Notre Dame de Paris, and the World Trade Center.
Tseng was the son of exiled Chinese Nationalists. Although he was born in Hong Kong, Tseng’s parents moved the family to Canada when he was sixteen. He originally studied painting at Academie Julien, but switched to photography after one year. After settling in New York, Tseng was part of a circle of artists in the 1980s art scene. With best friends Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf and Ann Magnuson, Tseng became a much-touted documentarian and denizen of the spirited New York downtown scene. He was Keith Haring’s “official” photographer, creating an archive
of over 40,000 images recording Keith Haring at work, from his early subway drawings and his large-scale commissions. Tseng created portraits of Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, Peter Halley, McDermott & McGough, Francesco Clemente, among others of the 1980’s art scene.
Tseng’s work has been exhibited in many solo shows including a major retrospective at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, which toured to numerous museums. His work is included in many solo, group, traveling exhibitions and biennales around the world. U.S. exhibits include Brooklyn Museum, National Portrait Gallery at The Smithsonian Institute, ICA Boston, MOCA Los Angeles, International Center for Photography, New Museum, Andy Warhol Museum, Bronx Museum, Asia Society; in Europe in London, Milan, Berlin, Amsterdam, St. Tropez and Madrid; and in Asia at the Shanghai Biennale and in Hong Kong.
Tseng died of AIDS-related illness in 1990, and was survived by his companion of seven years, Robert-Kristoffer Haynes, who remains a resident of New York City.