Biography
Paul Peng (b. 1994) is a Chinese American furry contemporary artist specializing in drawings and comics of monster boys in situations. He holds a BCSA in Computer Science and Art from Carnegie Mellon University and has also studied classical drawing at Barnstone Studios in Coplay, PA (2013) and experimental drawing at the Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, MI (2017).
As an artist, Paul has shown in multiple group and solo exhibitions across the Pittsburgh region and occasionally outside of it. He has been an artist-in-residence with the Brew House Association (2020–2021, Pittsburgh, PA), the Ox-Bow School of Art (2023), and Stove Works (2024, Chattanooga, TN). He has also provided illustrations and comics for the LUCKYME Advent Calendar 22 music compilation (2022), ECOTONE Vol. 1 (Cram Books, 2023), and CRAM #4: Bad News for Big Rubes (Cram Books, 2024). He made his curatorial debut in 2025 as one of the four co-curators of Room Party: Furry Art at the Beginning of the World, the first large-scale group exhibition by and of furries working in and next to contemporary and experimental art.
Alongside his art practice, Paul is a roller coaster enthusiast, a programming language design hobbyist, and an aspiring competitive DanceDanceRevolution player. He currently lives and works from Pittsburgh, PA.
Statement
I make non-representational and cartoon drawings based on what it feels like to be a real person. I began drawing like this as a teenager witnessing and participating in an internet-based folk art tradition of other sad queer teens drawing themselves as anthropomorphic fantasy creatures, anime monster boys, and other cartoons of things that they are not. Many motifs from this folk cartooning tradition show up in my work, but I am less interested in depicting this tradition’s narrative history and more interested in how my work, regardless of what it depicts, directly extends this tradition. How does my art, born from queer teen alienation, exist under conditions where that alienation used to exist but no longer does?