Talk Art

Tabboo!

Nov 17, 2023

American artist Tabboo! discusses his love of painting, collection of glitter, and early friendships with Nan Goldin and Jack Pierson. He talks about his performances at the legendary Pyramid Club alongside drag legends like Rupaul and Lady Bunny. Tabboo! also contributed graphic design for album covers, including Deee-Lite's World Clique. His paintings are described as delicious, fresh, and transparent, revealing every touch of color.

01:27:08

Creator website

Episode guests

Tabboo!

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Tabboo! began his artistic career by creating posters and backdrops for performances at the Pyramid Club in New York City, allowing him to express himself through large-scale paintings and experiment with different styles.

Success for Tabboo! as an artist goes beyond financial gain, emphasizing the joy of creating artwork that resonates with viewers and evokes hope and positivity.

Tabboo! values solitude and embraces the messiness of his creative process, highlighting the dedication and discipline required to consistently create art.

Andy Warhol's advice to Tabboo! of 'So what?' empowers the artist to ignore critics and opinions, focusing on his own creative expression without worrying about external validation.

Deep dives

Taboos Artistic Journey and Early Influences

Taboo, a legendary artist, shares the story of his artistic journey and early influences. He talks about his introduction to the art world through making posters and backdrops at the Pyramid Club in New York City. He discusses his passion for painting and drawing since childhood and the impact of different artistic movements and individuals on his work. Taboo also emphasizes the importance of hope and positivity in his art and the resilience needed to navigate the art world as a queer artist.

Introduction

4min

Living in the Lower East Side

20min

Water Damage and Taxidermy

5min

The Use of Glitter in Art and Its Potential Dangers

16min

John Seks, Delilah the Snake, and the Illusion of New York

7min

Freedom to Create and the Influence of Nature

8min

Creating Art for Sale and Incorporating Cartoon Characters

25min

Discrimination, Success, and Advice

2min

Discussing Cabaret, Art, and RuPaul

4min

We meet American artist Tabboo! (Stephen Tashjian, b. 1959, Leicester, Massachusetts) at his apartment in the East Village.

We discuss his love of painting, his collection of glitter, early friendships via Boston including Nan Goldin and Jack Pierson. We explore his 1980s move to NY inspired by Klaus Nomi and New Wave, which led to his own regular performances at the legendary Pyramid Club appearing next to other drag legends like Rupaul and Lady Bunny. Notably, Tabboo! also contributed graphic design for album covers such as Deee-Lite's World Clique. The curly lettering on the album cover became an iconic image for the band and the rave culture of the early 1990s.

Tabboo! is a multidisciplinary artist and painter based in New York City. He renders his subjects in a direct, intuitive style, suspending figurative elements against dreamlike colorfields. Tabboo! often draws subjects from his surroundings, depicting expressive cityscapes, portraits of friends, or imaginative still lifes inspired by the plants in his apartment. He also paints large, panoramic works and site-specific murals. These immersive settings recall the painted backdrops he made for performances in the 1980s and 1990s.

While performing regularly himself, Tabboo! also designed numerous event fliers, posters, and album covers featuring his signature curvilinear text, which still appears in his work. Roberta Smith described Tabboo!’s paintings as “delicious, fresh and transparent, revealing every touch of color, every pour and drip.” His work is held in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Tabboo!’s work is on view in the exhibition The Myth of Normal: A Celebration of Authentic Expression at the MassArt Art Museum, Boston, though May 19, 2024.

Follow @TabbooNYC and https://karmakarma.org/artists/tabboo/

and https://www.gordonrobichaux.com/artists/tabboo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.