From his controversial 2017 painting which resulted in hundreds of death threats, to being taught traditional indigenous artmaking techniques unbroken for thousands of years, Chung has experienced the extreme power of art. He has been the recipient of artist grants to learn from Peruvian shaman and to witness Inupiaq bowhead whale hunts in the Arctic. His work engages in topics of internalized racism, decolonization, and consumer culture exploring the intersection of mysticism and satire.
Thomas Chung is an American artist and Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Alaska. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree from SFAI in 2010 and his Masters of Fine Arts Degree from Yale University in 2013. He has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions throughout the United States. His multidisciplinary work has been written about in Art in America, The New Yorker, and Modern Painters Magazine.
Image: Thomas Chung, The Many Headed Beast, 2018; oil and acrylics on canvas, 54 x 126 inches. Courtesy the artist.
