Artistic inspiration often occurs unexpectedly. In 1979, Tseng Kwong Chi, born in Hong Kong, educated in Vancouver and Paris, and at the time living in New York City, went to meet his parents for dinner at the top of the World Trade Center. He had nothing formal to wear, so Tseng, a carefree prankster, improvised: he put on a Mao-style suit that he’d bought in a thrift store. Yet instead of being treated like a commie, he was accorded the respect of a foreign dignitary. It was an epiphany: the ideology of a uniform will always be overshadowed by its appearance. The default behavior for Westerners isn’t to question exoticism or authoritarianism, but to embrace it.
Tseng’s breakthrough occurred in 1980, outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the opening gala for an exhibit of 150 ornate robes worn by Chinese royalty. As art-world A-listers and socialites filed into the museum, Tseng approached them dressed in his Mao suit and charmed everyone from Andy Warhol to Nancy Kissinger into posing alongside him for pictures. Manhattan’s finest were sauntering into the Met to witness exotic relics of history, but Tseng brought a more contemporary and honest representation of China—unfettered by frosty institutional distance and free of the baggage of snobbery—directly to the attendees on the red carpet. And while he was acutely aware of the political undercurrent of the project, Tseng doesn’t appear judgmental or sarcastic—he and his subjects genuinely look like they’re enjoying themselves.
Through 12/11, opening reception Sat 10/1, 2 PM Northwestern University Block Museum of Art 40 Arts Circle Dr., Evanston 847-491-4000blockmuseum.northwestern.edu Free
