Yongqi Tang

Yongqi Tang (b. 1997, Shenzhen, China) lives and works in Ellensburg, Washington, where she teaches as an Assistant Professor at Central Washington University. Working in oil, watercolor, acrylic, and charcoal, Tang explores femininity and the diasporic experience, examining how the construction of narratives shapes cognition and destabilizes self-image in both private and public spaces. By reconstructing classical imagery and mythology drawn from both Western European and Chinese traditions, her paintings create a personal dimension where time, memory, and resonance unfold. Her exhibition Strange Tales at Make Room, Los Angeles (2026) took its title from the Qing-dynasty story collection Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, pairing its fables of spirits and demons with Western myths such as the story of Butades to trace shared archetypes of fear and desire across cultures.

Tang received her BA (2019) and MFA in Painting and Drawing (2022) from the University of Washington, Seattle. Solo exhibitions include Strange Tales, Make Room, Los Angeles (2026), and presentations at Latitude Gallery, New York; Le Scalze, Naples; Jupiter Contemporary, Miami; and T293 Gallery, Rome. Group exhibitions include Under the Talking Tree, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen; How It's Going, 193 Gallery, Paris; I Go To Seek a Great Perhaps, Make Room, Los Angeles (2024); and David Zwirner's Platform Online Viewing Room. She has participated in residencies including the Fountainhead Residency (2024), the Amazon AIR Program (2023), and Field Projects (2022), and is the recipient of the Greg Kucera & Larry Yocom Fellowship (2025) and the Artist Trust GAP Award (2023). Her work has been covered in Artnet, New American Paintings, Whitehot Magazine, Booooooom, and Impulse Magazine.