Bruce: Idealist with #Autism

Autism Unveiled Week 5

Bruce Tanquist

I love my children and my husband (Kevin and I were married at City Hall in Minneapolis, on August 1, 2013, the day same-sex marriage became legal in Minnesota). I want to do what I can to make the world a better place.

Autism enhances my ability to analyze situations and decide upon the best way to react.

I am inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem, Erlkönig and the German band Rammstein’s retelling of the story in their song, Dalai Lama. They tell of a father’s desperate attempt to save his young son from death’s grip. Other songs include Mikhail Shufutinsky’s Otpustite Vracha (Send the Doctor Away), which tells the thoughts of a soldier as he dies trapped in concertina wire; and Radiohead’s Exit Music (For a Film) from Baz Luhrmann’s film Romeo + Juliet. They all remind me of how fleeting life is and inspire me to appreciate every moment I can.

The Qt Project inspired me to take my computer programming in a new direction: http://qt-project.org/

The MnPAVE website shows a computer program I have worked on for the Minnesota Department of Transportation: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/app/mnpave/

Bruce Tanquist "Arthur Schopenhauer"
Bruce Tanquist “Arthur Schopenhauer”

I decided to make a drawing of Arthur Schopenhauer in 1989 because the intensity of his look intrigued me. I was also inspired by his philosophy of compassion and his idea that aesthetics can relieve one’s suffering.

Bruce Tanquist "Self-Portrait"
Bruce Tanquist “Self-Portrait”

The self portrait above (1990, pastel on paper) was signed with only my first and middle names.

Bruce Tanquist, Minnesota

Bruce is part of the Autism Unveiled Project – 6 weeks of posts by Autistic people commencing on April 2, 2015, World Autism Awareness Day.

One reply on “Bruce: Idealist with #Autism”
  1. says: Cameron

    I really appreciate your outlook on life Bruce. It seems simple: appreciate each moment in life, but that can be so difficult in the pace and confusion of this modern world. I really respond to your relationship to music being a way to respond to the interest in the awareness of the moment. I really like the idea that there is no past and there is no future, there is only now. Only in this space of now can we truly exist. There is something about the intensity in your portrait of Arthur Schopenhauer and in your self portrait that really convey the your interest in the moment; the raw, real potential of the moment. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and art!

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