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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

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.

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