TABBOO! has entered an exciting new stage in a life already jam-packed with excitement. The artist’s formative years were spent in parallel schools of culture: the art world and the drag world. He created a routine in which days were spent making paintings and nights were spent performing, with neither form of expression more important to him than the other. Revered for his impactful presence in nightlife, he came up during New York City’s mega club heyday—the ‘80s and ‘90s—with now mainstream stars Leigh Bowery, RuPaul, and Lady Bunny. True to his moniker, TABBOO!’s stage persona is unexpected, irreverent, and magnetic, sharing more with performance art than contemporary drag. Iconic moments such as the 1993 Wigstock debut of his sexual freedom anthem ‘It’s Natural’ have secured his legendary status, but the last few years have marked a shift in the appreciation of his talents. For decades, drag fame thwarted a welcome reception from an uptight artworld. To say it more directly: gatekeepers wouldn’t take a drag queen seriously as a painter. But the recent collective soul-searching of most cultural institutions—in regard to their poor handling of marginalised people and their histories—has resulted in an overdue correction in TABBOO!’s favour. Finally his work is being fully embraced, leading to the inclusion of his paintings in exhibitions at MoMA, the Jewish Museum, and ICA Boston, among other institutions, and he is currently preparing for a forthcoming double show of cityscape paintings at Karma and Gordon Robichaux (the gallery that represents him), accompanied by the release of two new books.
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