Austin Young

Austin Young
Young in 2014
Born (1966-04-12) April 12, 1966 (age 60)
Reno, Nevada, U.S.
Occupationsfine art photography
Video artist
Installation artist
New media arts

Austin Young (born April 12, 1966) is an American photographer, film maker and new media artist based in Los Angeles, known for both celebrity portraits and documentation of sub and trans culture. Young is co-founder of Fallen Fruit, an art collective that uses fruit as a common denominator for public engagement and collaboration.

Career

Since 1985, Young has been documenting pop, sub, and trans culture while playing with the themes of camp (style), celebrity, gender and identity through portrait photography and film.

Young is one of the creators of the open-source Tranimal Workshop events, launched in 2009 at Machine Project in Los Angeles. The concept of the Tranimal Workshop was a collaboration among Young, Squeaky Blonde and Fade-Dra, with the participation of Mathu Andersen, Jer Ber Jones, Andrew Marlin, and others.[citation needed]

Young's solo art exhibit “YOUR FACE HERE” took place on January 29, 2011 at Pop tART Gallery. Young established his art studio for a five-week residency at Pop tART Gallery in Los Angeles.

In 2025, Young created the site-specific installation Temple of Flowers (Il Piccolo Paradiso), commissioned by the Chiostro del Bramante for the exhibition Flowers: Art from the Renaissance to Artificial Intelligence.

Features and shorts

Young's film projects include:

Year Title Type Notes
2003 Hadda Brooks: Queen of the Boogie Feature Film Co-director with Barry Pett
2013-2015 TBD, The Musical Feature Film, Musical Creator, Director
2006-2021 The Worm Short, Series Directed, Creator by Austin Young, with Nadya Ginsburg
2005 Queen Please Directed by Austin Young, with Margaret Cho, Vaginal Davis and Jackie Beat
Fish Power Short with Margaret Cho and Selene Luna and Johnny Smith
The Stroke Short Co-directed with Barry Pett,
Portrait of the Infamous Boom Boom Short Director
Portrait of Selene Luna Short Director
2021 Jump Cut #3 - THEM Short Director, with Alaska, Willam, Laganja, Peaches

References

  1. ↑ "Fallen Fruit". Fallen Fruit. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  2. ↑ Brown, Patricia Leigh (11 May 2013). "Tasty, and Subversive, Too". New York Times. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Wolfson, Julie (30 April 2009). "Lenora Claire on her 'Bettie Page: Heaven Bound' Art Sho". LAist.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  4. ↑ Young, Austin. "Portraits". Austin Young. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  5. ↑ Mac, Amos (3 January 2011). "Need to Know: Austin Young". Out Magazine. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  6. ↑ Yury, Carrie (23 April 2011). "Austin Young's 'Your Face Here': An Artist's Encounter With Vanity, Celebrity, & Nudity". Huffington Post. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  7. ↑ Laden, Tanja M. (29 January 2011). "Your Face Here: Portraits by Austin Young". Flavorpill. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Stewart, Jessica (2 April 2025). "Immersive Exhibition Explores Timeless Beauty of Flowers Across Five Centuries of Art". My Modern Met. Retrieved 20 September 2026.