ARTIST TALK: A Conversation with Antonio Lechuga & Narong Tintamusik

ARTISTNarong Tintamusik

Narong Tintamusik (ณรงค์ ตินตมุสิก) is an artist and curator based in Dallas, TX. His work is autobiographical, mining elements from his 2nd-Generation Thai-American upbringing, Queer identity, Buddhist spirituality, and previous career in the biological sciences. He attempts to better understand his place in this world through painting and its iterations.

'CLOAKED IN FLESH, BOUNDLESS IN SPIRIT'

MARCH 2 - APRIL 6, 2024

“Cloaked in Flesh, Boundless in Spirit” is an exhibition that explores alternative methods of visualizing ancestry by abstracting traditional Thai textile patterns into familial tablets. Narong Tintamusik employs digital tools such as Adobe Illustrator and laser cutting technology to transform photographs of his mother’s clothing into futuristic medical illustrations infused with spiritual and biological elements. Embedding cultural data into instruments provides a glimpse into unseen realms beyond ordinary human perception.

Drawing from his recurring experiences in medical laboratories and insights from direct-to-consumer genetic testing services, Tintamusik synthesizes his queerness and Thai-Buddhist heritage to envision a future where medical data are encoded in culturally traditional yet open-ended forms. The paintings on paper and wood capture the raw data outputs from various laboratory screenings conducted by distant medical spiritualists. The works contemplate the survival not only of one’s community and culture but also of the essence or soul, against an uncertain future.

Born in Dallas, TX, Narong Tintamusik lived in Bangkok, Thailand for ten years. He obtained his Biology undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Dallas with a minor in visual arts in 2014. He is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing from the University of North Texas. Before entering graduate school, he worked in the environmental science industry for seven years.

He has exhibited in group shows locally in Dallas, TX, and beyond, including Chicago, New York, Canada, and Germany. Solo exhibitions include 500X (Dallas, TX), Plush Gallery (Dallas, TX), Tarleton State University (Stephenville, TX), and Angelina College (Lufkin, TX). He is the recipient of the DeGoyler Memorial Fund (Dallas Museum of Art 2015), Art Walk West Microgrant (West Dallas Chamber of Commerce 2021), and the Puffin Foundation Grant (Puffin Foundation 2022). He was a part of the artist-run gallery 500X from 2019-2022.

His curatorial focus often lies in identity, queerness, sexuality, diaspora, figuration, abstraction, fashion, love, and nature. His curatorial projects include To Remember to Speak our Mother Tongue (2022) at Goldmark Cultural Center, Human/Nature (2021) at Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Tree With Half a Root (2021) at Mountain View College, and Queer Me Now: The Queer Body and Gaze (2020) at 500X Gallery and The MAC. He also started Musik, a virtual curatorial platform that offers solo exhibitions to artists without gallery representation through invitational and open calls from August 2020 – November 2021.

ARTIST TALK: A Conversation with Antonio Lechuga & Narong Tintamusik

ARTISTNarong Tintamusik

'CLOAKED IN FLESH, BOUNDLESS IN SPIRIT'

MARCH 2 - APRIL 6, 2024

Works

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 1’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 2’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 3’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 4’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 5’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 8’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 9’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 11’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 12’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 13’

Daisha Board Gallery

ARTIST TALK: A Conversation with Antonio Lechuga & Narong Tintamusik

ARTISTNarong Tintamusik

'CLOAKED IN FLESH, BOUNDLESS IN SPIRIT'

MARCH 2 - APRIL 6, 2024

Works

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 1’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 2’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 3’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 4’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 5’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 8’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 9’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 11’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 12’

Narong Tintamusik ‘Underneath the Skin of My Mother’s Clothing 13’

Daisha Board Gallery

Donation