Matthew Wong
Matthew Wong (b. 1984, Toronto, Canada; d. 2019, Edmonton, Canada) was a self-taught Canadian painter whose works invoke art historical precedents that range from ink wash literati painting, to the sweeping brushstrokes of Chaim Soutine and Vincent Van Gogh, to the intuitive mark-making of abstract expressionism. Working alternately in oils and watercolors, Wong’s compositions are known for their manipulation of planar space and striking contrasts between wet and dry brushwork. His colorful, dappled vignettes of imaginary landscapes and half-remembered interiors, in his words, “activate nostalgia, both personal and collective.” Wong held his first American solo exhibition at Karma in March 2018, garnering reviews in The New York Times and The New Yorker, among others. He received a degree in cultural anthropology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an MFA in photography from the City University of Hong Kong’s School of Creative Media.
His work is in the public collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; Esteé Lauder Collection, New York; Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario; and the Aïshti Foundation, Beirut. Notable solo exhibitions include ARCH Athens, Greece (2020); Karma, New York (2019); Massimo de Carlo, Hong Kong (2019); Karma, New York (2018); and the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre (2015).
Wong was the subject of a survey exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario in August 2021.
Born 1984, Toronto, Canada
Died 2019, Edmonton, Canada
EDUCATION
2013
MFA, Photography, City University of Hong Kong School of Creative Media
2007
BA, Cultural Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Selected SOLO and Two Person EXHIBITIONS
2022
Cheim & Read, New York, The New World, Paintings from Los Angeles 2016
2021
Art Gallery of Ontario, Blue View
Cheim & Read, New York, Footprints in the Wind, Ink Drawings 2013–2017
2020
ARCH, Athens, Postcards
2019
Karma, New York, Blue
Massimo De Carlo, Hong Kong, Day by Night
2018
Karma, New York
2016
The Occasional, Burlington, Washington, Good Bad Brush with Peter Shear
2015
Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong, Pulse of the Land
2014
Cuiheng Art Museum, Zhongshan, China, Chapter One
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
70 Main Street, Thomaston, Maine, A Particular Kind of Heaven
2020
Dallas Museum of Art, To Be Determined
Andrew Edlin, New York, An Alternative Canon: Art Dealers Collecting Outsider Art, curated by Paul Laster
Karma, New York, (Nothing but) Flowers
2019
Château Shatto, Los Angeles, A Cloth Over a Birdcage
GRIMM Gallery, New York, Away in the Hill
Treasure Town, New York, Reading Painting, curated by Maya Strauss and Seth Becker
Independent Art Fair, New York, Gertrude Abercrombie, Ann Craven, Nicolas Party, Matthew Wong
2018
Performance Ski, Aspen, Colorado, Sky Above Clouds
Aishti Foundation, Beirut, Trance, curated by Albert Oehlen
George Gallery, New York, Monomania, curated by Shaun Ellison and Paul Whiting
2017
Cheim and Read, New York, The Horizontal
Galerie Frank Elbaz, Dallas, Texas Plastic Surgery, to look like you
Office Baroque, Brussels, Flemming Faloon
2016
Gallery 1969, New York, Tom Friedman (+The Birthday Show)
Karma, Amagansett, New York, Outside, curated by Matthew Higgs
Occasional Gallery, Burlington, Good Bad Brush with Peter Shear
The Provincial, Kaleva, Michigan, Cold Summer, curated by Peter Shear
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Dallas Museum of Art, Texas
Aïshti Foundation, Beirut
Esteé Lauder Collection, New York
Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario
Publications
2020
Matthew Wong: Postcards
Karma, New York
52 pages, Hardcover
10 1⁄2 × 8 1⁄2 inches
2019
Matthew Wong: BLUE
Karma, New York
112 pages, Hardcover
10 1/8 × 8 1/8 inches
Gertrude Abercrombie, Ann Craven, Nicolas Party, Matthew Wong
Karma, New York
60 pages, Softcover
8 1/4 × 11 inches
2018
Matthew Wong
Karma, New York
120 pages, Hardcover
10 1/8 × 8 1/8 inches
Selected Bibliography
2019
Moffat, Isabelle, Albert Oehlen, Wolfgang Voigt, Massimiliano Gioni, Francesco Bonami, Tony Salamé.
Trance
Edited by John Harten. Milano: Skira editore S.p.A., 2019.
Schwabsky, Barry, Robert R. Shane, Louise Sørensen, Susan A. Van Scoy.
Landscape Painting Now: From Pop Abstraction to New Romanticism.
Edited by Todd Bradway. New York: D.A.P., April 23, 2019.
