Brendan Lee Satish Tang draws from the influences, tensions, and contradictions that define the postmodern world. Interested in the paradox between irreverence and frivolity while engaging in deep historical critical reflection, Tang's work interrogates themes of cultural identity, hybridity, historical canonization, and contemporaneity.
Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1975 to Trinidadian parents, Brendan Lee Satish Tang received his Bachelors of Fine Arts from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Canada later going on to receive a Masters in Fine Arts from the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. After graduating, Tang held his first exhibitions in Canada including his first solo exhibitions at New Wagner Art Gallery and Kamloops Art Gallery in 2006 and first group exhibitions at James S. Murray Gallery, Crafthouse Gallery and New Wagnery Art Gallery in 2005. Tang has exhibited widely in Canada and the United States, including at the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival in Nanaimo, British Columbia (2007), Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (2007), Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, California (2007), 52nd annual Salon des métiers d'art du Québec in Montreal, Quebec (2007), Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago, Illinois (2008), Clay and Glass Invitational, Atrium Gallery in Corning, New York (2008), Toronto International Art Fair in Toronto, Ontario (2008), Museum of Fine Art, Boston (2013), and Seattle Art Fair in Seattle, Washington (2015). Tang has also been recognized globally, exhibiting at the 60th Annual Faenza Prize, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, Italy (2018), the Foundation d'enterprise Bernardaud in Limoges, France (2015), and at Art Labour in Shanghai, China (2011). And in 2017, Brendan Lee Satish Tang was announced as a finalist for the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, with shows in 21_21 Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, Chamber in New York, New York and COAM in Madrid, Spain. Tang has also received awards for his work such as the Nanaimo Culture and Heritage Award in 2022, and the Biennale Internationale de Vallauris Contemporary Ceramic Award in 2016. Tang's work can be found in various public collections including the Seattle Art Museum, Canada House, Gardiner Museum, Canadian Museum of History, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Tang's work explores issues of identity and the hybridization of material and non-material culture. Grounded in his interest in visual culture and cultural identity, Tang often uses his work to investigate the meeting point for various visual and intellectual influences. Born in Ireland to Trinidadian parents, yet living and working in Unceded territory of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam Nations, the artist's practice interrogates issues of race, class, and sexual identity through contemporary pop culture just as much as critical art history. Drawing from historical and contemporary practices of self-portraiture, these works are rich with cultural and personal symbolism. Bridging personal visual aesthetic interests with labour intensive detail oriented artistry, Tang creates work in conversation with both the art historical cannon and contemporaneity. These ideas manifest in the artist's sculptural ceramic works as he creates hybrid objects infused with Ming dynasty and Rococo elements with 21st century technology and cultural elements. His utmost aim is to create works serving as a portal for reflection and dialogue.