Martin Wong at Daniel Buchholz
September 2nd, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Martin Wong, an artist who died in 1999, seems to be finally getting more of the attention he deserves. This month opened what appears to be his first exhibition in Europe, at Galerie Daniel Buchholz in Cologne.
Born on the West Coast, Wong’s work had several arcs. He originally studied ceramics, and began to make a name for himself in San Francisco. He then moved to New York and became heavily enmeshed in the art and poetry of the East Village. This is the period he most known for, where he became primarily a painter. His canvases of this time provide a matte vision of a neighborhood at once run-down and beginning to be reborn, a city held together by the seams, a life lived on the edge. It is also at this time that he developed his signature adoption, or appropriation and adaption, really, of fingers-spelling characters. Later, in the 90s, his focus shifted yet again, this time more inward, towards the life of Asian Americans, more specifically ABCs (American-Born Chinese).
The exhibition runs through most of September. For those of us stuck in New York, the artist’s estate is handled by P.P.O.W. gallery.
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The images above were all borrowed from the website of Galerie Daniel Buchholz. They are, in order, Stanton Near Forsyth, Resume Consume, Restoration Project, and Son of Sam Sleeps.
