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Most of us like to see art shows whenever we get a chance. It inspires our writing and our lives. The atmosphere and importance of a time period when created are reflected by the hands and vision of the artists, and maybe that’s why we appreciate them so much more, years later as we reflect back to those days.
Last month in Columbus Ohio I was lucky to spot a show of the modern art work of the deceased artist, Martin Wong.
The exhibition was at the Wexner Center for the Arts at the Ohio State University.
His work at first glance looks a bit bizarre and streetwise. To some degree, it is that, but look deeper and you will find much more, like using sign language in acrylic.
The scenes are often dark, lonely even, but the people are humanized. His paintings show hope in the eyes and love in ugly places. It also depicts the the hidden gay community of NYC back in the days when AIDS was first revealed and people were paranoid.
Here are some pictures of his paintings, which do it no justice.
Many are literally bigger than life. I hope if anything they will inspire you to look closer at this great artist and others as well, with an open mind and heart.
Here’s an article from the NY Times from 2015 that does a great job explaining Martin’s work, a bit of biographical history and the development of his art in the 1970’s – 1980’s.
Martin Wong, an Urban Visionary With a Hungry Eye
Here’s an article from the Bronx Museum about the the Chinese-American artist martin Wong that was featured via the Andy Warhol Foundation of Visual Arts and the Henry Luce Foundation
Martin Wong: Human Instamatic
November 4, 2015 to March 13, 2016
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Great post, Elisabeth. I’m not one for spending hours wandering around art museums (and don’t know a lot about art), but I love coming across exhibitions like this by chance. This one looks as if it was really interesting.
Thanks MelParish it was very interesting. The exhibit was set up so you journeyed from early pieces until his later work. There was a great video of him and commentaries about his work. A real learning experience. I also was asked nicely from a guard to step farther away- embarrassing 😊 I tried to see his brush strokes on the painted bricks and I guess I wasn’t the standard yard away – So I zoomed the lens of my camera to look closer instead, lol