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Visual Artist | millenniumfae-artblog.tumblr.com
Chuang Wang (they/them) was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and joined their parents in immigrating to Madison at age two. They’ve watched Madison grow from an unimpressive engineering standby to the artistic multicultural mainstay it is now. Living the Midwestern Asian immigrant experience meant being an “outsider” even if they weren’t the troublemaking, problem child, finding escape in early internet fan communities, which sparked an early interest in the media arts.
In art college, they excelled with multiple honors, scholarships, and accolades. Chuang’s plan of success was mapped to the finest detail: Make connections with studios, find internships with big names, build a social media presence, and rub elbows with the bigwigs until they could get their own creations on the big screen. Ambition fueled every assignment to be bigger and better than the last.
But during the tail-end of their sophomore year of college, they fell sick to a severe panic disorder that has left them housebound and in chronic distress ever since. Their plans for success were completely derailed. Although they did graduate from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2017 with a BFA and a focus on 2D animation, they couldn’t continue walking the yellow brick road.
To many, becoming disabled is never considered a possibility. Those with chronic illnesses are the “other,” and the “exception,” and suddenly becoming part of this “other” is an extremely confusing and isolating experience. So it was that Chuang had to switch from playing the mass market masquerade, to finding their own place at their own pace.
If Chuang cannot pull a 9-to-5 in a high-profile studio, or are bound to assisted living, or is unable to travel, then their artistic career would have to be held from the safety of their home desk. It’s been a surprisingly successful endeavor, much to their relief. They launched their own professional brand Whitemanning Critical, which began by selling fine art merchandise such as block and screen prints as well as novelty goods such as bath and body products. Market endeavors became acts of awareness. Their artistic designs explore social justice, self-growth, pride, and activism.
For now, Chuang plans on continuing to expand Whitemanning Critical through vendoring, while also traversing through the labyrinth that is the media world. Dreams can be achieved, it just has to be done your own way.
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Chuang Wang, Visual Artist
2025 Queer Arts Directory
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