World of One
"I wanted to picture a world where I'm no longer an outsider." - Johnny
The Whisper
2012 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24″ x 41 1/8″ | edition of 5 + 1 APThis shot was inspired by how it's so hard to take your own advice.
This image marks a turning point in this series. Before this piece, the story and concept behind each image were really more of an afterthought. Visuals came first. After this image, a much greater focus on what message the image is expressing starts to take place.
Instillation view: How the art lives in a collector's home.
Narcissus
2012 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 44 5/16" | edition of 5 + 1 APInspired by the greek myth of Narcissus. Photographed at the Christian Science Center in Boston, MA. This image most directly confronts one of the central themes of this series: "How do you see yourself?"
Hide and Seek
2012 Giclée Print from 35mm Positives 24" x 41 1/4" | edition of 5Inspired by the feeling of trying to remember something. Shot on slide film for more vibrant colors.
Invictus
2013 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 43" | edition of 5Inspired by the feeling of standing out in a crowd.
Battle of the Johnnys
2013 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 41" | edition of 5How it feels to be conflicted with yourself.
The Stranger
2013 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 45" | edition of 5How it feels to be alone in a crowd.
School of Cambridge
2013 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 38 7/8" | edition of 5How it feels to be alone in a crowd.
Diligentia
2013 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 47 3/4" | edition of 5How it feels to walk towards the unknown.
Odysseus' Rock
2013 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 39 7/8" | edition of 5How it feels to be broke, surrounded by success.
Instillation view: Exhibited at Pearl River Mart, 2019.
Paradox of Choice
2013 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 42 7/16" | edition of 5"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." - Soren Kierkegaard
Diligentia II
2013 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 40" | edition of 5Walking towards the unknown, but doubting yourself.
Hopeful Despair
2013 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 42" | edition of 5What it truly means to have hope.
Creative Destruction
2013 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 120" | edition of 3 + 1 APHow it feels to be torn between the desire to create and destroy.
Instillation View: Hung with magnets and on view at Pearl River Mart, 2019.
Glory of Shame
2014 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 41 5/8" | edition of 5How it feels to be a loveable loser.
Illusions of Progress
2014 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 42 7/16" | edition of 5Progress is not a circle, it is a spiral staircase.
A Waking Dream
2014 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 43 3/8" | edition of 5We are not running in circles, we are climbing a spiral staircase.
Commodum
2014 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 40 7/8" | edition of 5Sometimes, you just have to help yourself.
NSA
2014 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 43 5/8" | edition of 5Inspired by the Edward Snowdan case. Big Brother is always listening.
Pleasures of Pain
2015 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24″ x 47 3/4″ | edition of 5There's something painfully beautiful about self sabotage.
Grounded Ambitions
2015 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 41 1/4” | edition of 5Reach for the skies, but keep your feet (or head) on the ground.
Fortuna
2015 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 39 7/16” | edition of 5Somedays, it's hard to know which parts of yourself to help first.
Memento Mori
2015 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 47 1/8” | edition of 5Contemplating loss.
Fearful Courage
2016 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 41” | edition of 5The only time we can be brave is when we are afraid.
Migrant Shores
2016 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 46” | edition of 5We learn about most tragedies through social media. Is this a good or a bad thing?
Shinobi No Kame
2016 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 40 7/16” | edition of 5Inspired by Gordan Parks' iconic The Invisible Man collaboration with writer Ralph Ellison, and Ninja Turtles.
Narcissus II
2017 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 40 7/16” | edition of 5How do you want to see yourself?
Chasing Magritte
2018 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 47 5/8” | edition of 5When in doubt, just rip off Magritte.
the Offering
2018 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 41 9/16” | edition of 5Inspired by the Offering, by James Jean.
Feeling Numb
2018 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 49 1/8” | edition of 5Only by accepting discomfort, will you be comfortable everywhere.
Tao
2018 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 46 5/16” | edition of 5What is the way things should be?
Installation view: At an artist talk for the Counter Weight exhibition in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Death of Narcissus
2019 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 40 5/16” | edition of 5Death of Narcissus is a homage to Hippolyte Bayard’s Self-Portrait as a Drowned Man, one of Johnny's favorite early photographs (and one of the world’s first selfies!).
Hippolyte Bayard is a pioneer and inventor of photography in who lived in 19th century France. But he was was overlooked by the French Academy of Sciences in favor of his rival Louis Daguerre, who was both a better salesman and better connected. In response, Bayard sent the Academy members copies of Self-Portrait as a Drowned Man in protest. This might sounds tame by today’s standards, but it’s actually a big fuck you to the academy. You see, Daguerre’s process could only produce a single copy of an image. If you wanted two copies, you’d have to photograph the same photo twice. But Bayard’s process was able to produce multiple copies.
Johnny used Bayard’s image as the inspiration for the themes and composition of Death of Narcissus, while adding a personal twist on it. Johnny titled this piece with the reference to Narcissus, to tie it in with his other reflection based self-portraits in the World of One. Also because in some versions of the myth, Narcissus dies by suicide.
The World is Watching
2020 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 41 3/4” | edition of 5Shot in May 2020, just as New York was emerging from the first series of lockdowns. This image reflects how the artist felt the world was judging the US during that period of time.
Stand Together
2021 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 35 1/2” | edition of 5In America, Asians are known as the “Model Minority.” But growing up here, Johnny has always looked at how society treats black people as the real “Model Minority.” Because there ain’t shit they can do to us, that hasn’t been done to them. With this piece, Johnny wanted to show support for the struggle, and to say that “Even if your back is against the wall, I stand with you.”
Memento Mori II
2021 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 41 3/16” | edition of 5Grieving during the pandemic was the worst. Being unable to hug our loved ones while they are in pain is a unique kind of hell.
Resisto
2021 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24” x 41 3/16” | edition of 5“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” - Henry David Thoreau
Divine Comedy
2024 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 52 13/16" | edition of 5Because God’s laughing at us.
The Comedian
2024 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 40 1/2" | edition of 5The whole of life is absurd.
Perditus
2024 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 42 13/16" | edition of 5Destroyed, ruined, wasted, squandered, lost.
Arrakis
2024 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 44" | edition of 5"My Arrakis. My Dune." - Vladimir Harkonnen
Ego Death
2024 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 45" | edition of 5Death is required for rebirth.
Samsara
2024 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 46 1/2" | edition of 5It's beautiful to be human.
Catharsis
2024 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 36" x 67" | edition of 3Catharsis completes a trilogy of pictures centered around the theme of catharsis. In ancient Greece it was believed that the purpose of theater is to make the audience laugh and cry. Because experiencing the extremes of human emotion cleanses and purges the soul. This image specifically explores how we ignore our feelings. How we can laugh and smile on the outside, even when we’re rotting on the inside.
Anxious Leisure
2025 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 44" | edition of 5What every group project feels like.
Gestalt
2025 Giclée Print from 35mm Negatives 24" x 46 5/16" | edition of 5This was shot during a 2025 residency at the Arteles Center for the Arts in Finland. It’s inspired by “Carte Blanche” a René Magritte painting of a man on a horse in a surreal forest. In Magritte's painting, the trees from the background overlap with the foreground, warping the viewer's depth preception. A technique Tang also employs here. The subject of Margritte’s painting is how our mind fills in the gaps for what we want to see. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” as the saying goes, which is a psychological effect called "Gestalt." Tang thinks it's an interesting metaphor for identity.
Tech Notes
These images are all shot on 35mm film, then scanned and digitally minipulated. This is done with the intention of minipulating the audience's preception of reality. By injecting something familar and using nostalgia to make the magical believable.
Images are listed at exhibition size, with instillation photos in the details wherever available. Small and medium sized prints are also available in the following sizes/dimensions:
Small: 11" x 14" edition of 15
Medium: Various Heights x 24" width edition of 10
Please reach out by email to info@johnnytangphoto for all questions/concerns/sales information.