- Stephen Tashjian
"Tabboo" redirects here, you may be looking for "taboo"."
Stephen Tashjian is an American artist. His
drag queen character "Tabboo!" became known in the East Village underground scene ofNew York City in the 1980s. He is also a puppeteer, painter and singer.Tashjian attended the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston where he became friends with fellow studentsNan Goldin andJack Pierson . He moved to New York's East Village in 1982 to pursue a career as an artist, and became a regular performer at thePyramid Club , appearing next to other drag legends likeRupaul andLady Bunny . Tashjian also performed several times at the annualWigstock drag event, and appeared inWigstock, The Movie , released in 1994.Tashjian has painted murals on city buildings and exhibited his paintings in many galleries internationally. Under the name Tabboo! he designed flyers, record album covers and advertising for underground venues. One of his better-known artworks is his graphic design for the successful
Deee-Lite "World Clique " album cover. The curly lettering on the album cover became an iconic image for the band and the rave culture of the early 1990s.The photographer
Nan Goldin included photographs [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=25978&searchid=15383] of Tabboo! in her books and he is featured on the cover of her book "The Other Side" [ [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/3908247349.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/3908247349&h=240&w=240&sz=11&hl=en&start=71&tbnid=pBmAZeT6roltDM:&tbnh=110&tbnw=110&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnan%2Bgoldin%26start%3D60%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN Drag photo] ] in drag.Tashjian continues to perform in New York and shows his paintings in art shows, most notably a 2006 group show curated by
Jack Pierson atPaul Kasmin Gallery in New York, featuring dozens of camp art piecs from his private collection. The show featured works byMatthew Barney ,Nan Goldin ,David Armstrong ,Jack Pierson , andMark Morrisroe .Tashjian's work has also been documented in the
New Museum ’s “East Village Show” andNew York University (NYU)/Grey Art Gallery ’s “Downtown Show.”References
External links
* [http://www.gaycitynews.com/gcn_525/tabboogivesyoufever.html]
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