michelle tanguay

I had a toothache. The result of my sugar addiction and overindulgence of sweets.  The intense, loud color was inspired by the colors i found in the candy i was consuming. The cinematic appearance can be attributed to my attempt to capture a moment of seduction. More specifically the moment when the power shifts to the seductress.  My studio was/is often filled with beautiful temptresses and large bowls of candy. I found myself seduced by both and I simply painted what was in front of me. 

These paintings were created for the Red Bull House Of Art in 2012

I had a toothache. The result of my sugar addiction and overindulgence of sweets.  The intense, loud color was inspired by the colors i found in the candy i was consuming. The cinematic appearance can be attributed to my attempt to capture a moment of seduction. More specifically the moment when the power shifts to the seductress.  My studio was/is often filled with beautiful temptresses and large bowls of candy. I found myself seduced by both and I simply painted what was in front of me. 

I took a day trip to the Detroit Zoo, they have the most beautiful Chilean Flamingos and I was just in awe of how beautiful and alien-like these creatures were. I knew then that I needed to paint these beautiful animals and wanted to experiment with geometric shapes and patterns. This has been an ongoing series that i plan to continue to paint. I love to paint flamingos in the summer.   

I suffered from Seasonal Depression for a few years. I was sad and used color, light, and the cinematic layout of a 4x8 wood to magnify my mood.  The models Cyndia and Chelsi are good friends of mine and I've painted both of them multiple times.  

Painting stripes is a very repetitive process. The repetition becomes rhythmic and soothing. I enjoy getting lost within the layers, playing with depth and creating little optical illusions within each painting.

I’m severely dyslexic and was an awful student. I felt misunderstood and alone, as many young kids do. While other students took notes i doodled. In the back of one of my schoolbooks i drew a circle containing an eyeball and whenever I felt alone i would flip to the back of my book and there was someone looking back at me.  The current political climate has left me feeling defeated, scared, and alone. I found myself subconsciously retreating to my elementary coping mechanism and drawing eyeballs in notebooks looking back at me.  Sketches turn into paintings and paintings need an environment.  People are so unpredictable and emotional, it was important for me to create an environment that was the opposite of that. Patterns are predictable and safe. I wanted to create a safe place for people from all walks of life to come together and feel that they are safe and not alone. 

This print was created for POW!WOW!  5th annual print exhibition produced by 1xrun. 

I challenged myself to do a series of small portraits. I like to paint large, but because I approached the work as studies I began to play, experimenting, and  take risks that I wouldn't normally take if i was painting on a large scale. What i learned from these paintings I think i've taken into my current work. 

Inner State Gallery and Heron Arts are proud to present The Detroiter a unique collaborative group show opening July 30th, 2016 in San Francisco. Featuring a vast selection of artists with ties to Detroit, the exhibition includes artists currently living and working in Detroit, expatriate Detroit artists from around the globe, as well as select artists from the Bay Area who take inspiration from Detroit’s unique visual landscape. 

For additional information please email info@innerstategallery.com

These banners were given to me by Paxahau after MOVEMENT. At the time I had people frequently visiting me so i decided that I would photograph and paint every person who entered my door whether we were friends, acquaintances, or adversaeries. The idea being that I would create a mini Detroit in my studio and document the people I was spending my time with. It took me 3 months to paint everyone I photographed over those 30 days and ended up painting over 90 portraits. I started running out of the banners at the same time my friend was working on Eminems music video "Rap God" I went to check it out and noticed these giant bookshelves and expressed my interest. After filming ended the crew delivered the bookshelves to me and I took them a part and used the wood to paint smaller portraits on. I had such a wonderful time working on this project and love doing installations based on this theme. 

To enquire more information on a Face2Face series installation please email: michelletanguayart@gmail.com

Girls wearing sunglasses makes me feel like im on vacation. Warm, happy, mischievous. I usually paint these during the harsh winters because it makes me happy. 

My friend Alyssa is so much fun to photograph and paint. Her hyper sexual behavior I find amusing. She's great, she's having fun, and she's playing a game.  I took the photos of this shoot on the rooftop of the E&B in Eastern Market.  Alyssa was on LSD and I took over 500 photos. This was painted for a Cass Contemporary group show. 

I painted this piece for the Murals In The Market Group Exhibition. The model is a very close friend of mine Simone Else. I had a lot of fun experimenting with the human form and how it interacts with harsh geometric form shapes.

These paintings are from smaller sections of old paintings that I painted over. The layers of built up paint made me visualize layers in a dimensional way. I wanted the image to reflect the depth of past layers. I like creating barriers between the viewer and model. Playing with those barriers, experimenting with shadow, and creating abstract floating forms that interact with the portraits was really great and I learned a lot throughout the process.