Martin Wong, Malicious Mischief (Installation View), all images via Camden Art Center
Artist Martin Wong is widely recognised for his extraordinary depictions of social, sexual and political scenographies from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Weaving together narratives of queer existence, marginal communities, and urban gentrification, Wong stands out as an important countercultural voice at odds with the art establishment’s reactionary discourse at the time. This summer, the artist’s work is at the center of an impressive show at the Camden Art Center in London, tracing the artist’s works as an extension of his life.
Martin Wong, Malicious Mischief (Installation View)
Heavily influenced by his immediate surroundings, Wong’s practice merges the visual languages of Chinese iconography, urban poetry, graffiti, carceral aesthetics, and sign language as well as drawing heavily on the Latin American community he became so closely involved with. His work offers an important insight into a decisive period of recent American history, as told through its changing urban landscapes and unfolding hidden desires.
This show, titled Malicious Mischief presents a survey of over 100 of the artist’s works. It encompasses early paintings and sculptures made in the euphoric environments of San Francisco and Eureka, California, in the late 1960s and early 1970s; Wong’s iconic 1980s and 1990s paintings, made during his time in a dilapidated New York City; as well as his reminiscences on the imagery of the East and West Coast Chinatowns, made prior to his premature death from an AIDS/ HIV-related illness.
Martin Wong, Malicious Mischief (Installation View)
Martin Wong, Malicious Mischief (Installation View)
Wong’s work was unflinching in its explorations of the urban landscape, in the social interactions and cultural interactions that defined his daily life. Street art and urban landscapes blend together, the language of each mode of art making commingling in a way that emphasizes their connectivity and expressivity in conjunction, rather than present either version of the work as a specific mode. Wong’s work emphasizes the density and intricate interactions of art-making and social life beyond distinctions of the gallery. Here, Wong draws few lines, and instead connects points, linking together lives and visions.
The show closes September 17th.
– D. Creahan
Read more:
Camden Art Center [Exhibition Site]
