MARTIN WONG
Martin Wong, Américain
1946-1999
Martin Wong, dans l’effervescence de l’East Village des années 80, incarne un artiste-poète, un chroniqueur visuel des mondes cachés. Né à Portland en 1946 et d’origine chinoise, Wong arrive à New York en pleine mutation sociale et culturelle. Avec un regard inlassable et un sens aigu du détail, il se consacre à capturer la vie urbaine dans ses moindres recoins, faisant de chaque rue et bâtiment le miroir d’une société complexe. Dans ses œuvres, les murs de briques rouges, les signes de la langue des signes, les objets de tous les jours et les graffitis se transforment en narrations d’un quartier en transition, avec tout son poids de mémoire et de vitalité.
Dès ses premières expositions dans les galeries alternatives de l’East Village, comme la Fun Gallery et le New Museum, Wong se démarque par une approche singulière, presque obsessionnelle, des paysages urbains et des relations humaines qui les peuplent. Ses toiles, véritables cartographies de la ville, explorent les interstices de la communauté : il peint les rencontres, les tensions, les amours et les luttes sociales avec une sensibilité qui confère à son travail une aura quasi mystique. On y découvre des symboles codés, des mots d’amour peints dans le langage des signes, des objets qui racontent les vies ordinaires et extraordinaires d’un quartier en mutation rapide, en proie à la gentrification.
À travers des œuvres emblématiques comme Brick Wall, Wong se fait l’archéologue visuel d’un passé en train de s’effacer, capturant des fragments d’histoire et de rêves oubliés dans ses briques minutieusement peintes. Exposée au Whitney Museum dans les années 80 et plus tard lors de l’exposition City as Canvas, cette œuvre emblématique de Wong n’est pas seulement un hommage au patrimoine architectural new-yorkais ; elle devient un champ de résonance pour les mémoires enfouies, pour les histoires que seuls les murs connaissent et que l’artiste libère, couche après couche.
En 1985, alors que Wong expose au P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, son style acquiert une notoriété internationale. Ses œuvres deviennent rapidement prisées, non seulement pour leur habileté technique, mais pour leur profondeur narrative et sociale. Il expose également au Brooklyn Museum et au MoMA, où ses scènes urbaines attirent l’attention des critiques, qui voient en lui une voix essentielle de la contre-culture. La rue devient, dans ses œuvres, un théâtre où les lignes et les couleurs racontent une histoire à part entière, celle des invisibles, des marginaux et des anonymes qui peuplent les avenues de New York.
Au-delà des galeries, Wong collectionne les oeuvres de ses amis artistes. Sa rencontre avec les pionniers du graffiti, tels que Daze, Lee Quiñones et Rammellzee, influence sa démarche artistique. Ensemble, ils tissent un dialogue entre les arts institutionnels et les expressions populaires, faisant entrer dans l’histoire de l’art cette esthétique née dans les marges. À travers ses œuvres, Wong révèle l’humanité et la poésie d’un univers souvent incompris, capturant les tensions et les espoirs des communautés urbaines avec une intensité sans pareil.
L’héritage de Martin Wong, aujourd’hui célébré à travers de nombreuses rétrospectives, reste celui d’un artiste engagé, qui a su transcender les barrières pour inscrire les récits de l’East Village dans l’histoire. Son art, à la fois sensuel et intellectuel, incarne une vision du monde où la beauté se niche dans chaque fissure, où chaque brique devient porteuse de mémoire, et où les voix marginalisées trouvent, enfin, leur place.
Lors d’une exposition en 1984 à la Semaphore Gallery de New York, Martin Wong a affiché une déclaration d’artiste griffonnée sur du carton. Il y écrivait : « En ramenant cette fois-ci l’art au niveau de la rue, je voulais me concentrer de près sur certaines des couches infinies de conflit qui nous lient tous ensemble… Toujours enfermés, toujours exclus, gagnants et perdants tout à la fois… »
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Education
1970
B.A. Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Twilight Child: Antonia Kuo and Martin Wong, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
The Midnight Sea, A Little Dash of LSD, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2023
Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany; Camden Arts Centre, London, UK; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2022
Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, Spain
Dream Fungus: Early Works, 1967-1978, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, Germany
2021
1981–2021, Martin Wong / Aaron Gilbert, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2017
Human Instamatic, UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
2016
Voices, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Human Instamatic, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
2015
Human Instamatic, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY
Painting is Forbidden, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA
2010
Martin Wong Works 1980 – 1998, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, Germany
2009
Everything Must Go, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Art, Archives and Activism = Martin Wong’s Downtown Crossing, Asian/Pacific/American Institute, New York University, NY
2004
Martin Wong’s Utopia, Chinese Historical Society of America Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
2001
Martin Wong: Storefronts 1984-86, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
1999
Martin Wong: The Eureka Years, Humboldt State University First Street Gallery, Eureka, CA
1998
Sweet Oblivion: The Urban Landscape of Martin Wong, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY; University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Martin Wong: New Work, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
1994
York College, Queens, NY
1993
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Chinatown USA, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
1991
Soap, Erotic Jail Paintings, The Pyramid Club, New York, NY
1988
Martin Wong, EXIT ART, New York, NY
Frank Bernarducci Gallery, New York, NY
1987
Here and Now, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
Signs of Significance, Sacco’s, Ridgefield, CT
Living for the City, The Saint, New York, NY
1986
Picture Show, Semaphore, New York, NY
Martin Wong: Messages to the Public: IMU, UR2, Public Art Fund, Times Square, New York, NY
1985
Semaphore, New York, NY
1984
Semaphore, New York, NY
Select Group Exhibitions
2024
Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (forthcoming)
The Way I See It: Selections from the KAWS Collection, The Drawing Center, New York, NY (forthcoming)
Legacies: Asian American Art Movements in New York City (1969-2001), 80WSE, New York University, New York, NY (forthcoming)
City as Canvas: Graffiti Art from the Martin Wong Collection, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN (forthcoming)
For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA (forthcoming)
To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA (forthcoming)
Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
Making Room: Museum as Space for Self-Expression, Bronx Museum, New York, NY
Urban Art Evolution, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY
Ten Thousand Suns, 24th Sydney Biennale, Sydney, Australia
In the Shadow of the American Dream, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics, The Institutum, Gillman Barracks, Singapore
GODZILLA: Echoes of the 1990s Asian American Arts Network, Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, NY
Unlife Part II, Soft Opening, London, UK
2023
Unlife, Soft Opening at Paul Soto, Los Angeles, CA
Wild Style 40, curated by Carlos McCormick, Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY
Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, Vincent Price Art Museum, Monterey Park, CA; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
The Collection: New Conversations, The New York Historical Society, New York, NY
Luxe, Calme, Volupté, Candice Madey, New York, NY
This is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture, Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
Il Morso delle Termiti, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
City as Studio, Curated by Jeffrey Deitch, K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
Just Between Us: From the Archives of Arlan Huang, Pearl River Mart Gallery, New York, NY
Bohemia: History of an Idea, 1950–2000, Kunshalle Praha, Prague, Czech Republic
Myth Makers: Spectrosynthesis III, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
2022
East of the Pacific: Making Histories of Asian American Art, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, CA
Somewhere Downtown, UCCA, Beijing, China
Phraseology, Bass Museum, Miami, FL
Every Moment Counts—AIDS and its Feelings, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Sandvika, Norway
2021
QUEER OUT T/HERE, Tong Art Advisory Salon, New York, NY
ZEROS + ONES, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
Stories from Storage, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
2020
Dreaming Together: New-York Historical Society and Asia Society Museum, New York, NY
Around Day’s End, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Did I Ever Have a Chance?, Curated by Jacob Robichaux, Marc Selwyn, Los Angeles, CA
Beauty Can Be the Opposite of a Number, Bureau, New York, NY
Walls Turned Sideways: Artist Confront the Justice System, Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford, MA
The Studio of the Street, K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
2019
Hong Kong, MX Gallery, New York, NY
About Face: Stonewell, Revolt, and the New Queer, Wrightwood 659, Chicago, IL
Art After Stonewall, Art After Stonewall, 1969 to 1989, Grey Art Gallery and Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York, NY; The Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Stonewall 50, Arcus Pride, Clifford Chance, New York, NY
2018
A Page from My Intimate Journal (Part 1), Gordon Robichaux, New York, NY
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX
2017
AIDS at Home and Everyday Activism, Museum of the City of New York, NY
I Plan to Stay a Believer, Andrew Kreps, New York, NY
Street Hassle, Marlborough Contemporary, London, UK
Spectrosynthesis – Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
2016
Tie His Hands Gently, Romeo, New York, NY
Desire, Moore Building, Miami, FL
Painting 2.0. Expression in the Information Age, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
Art, AIDS, America, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY; Alphawood Gallery, Chicago, IL
Hardlove, curated by Barry Blinderman, Martos Gallery, New York, NY
2015
afterlife, curated by Julie Ault, Galerie Buchholz, New York, NY
40: The Anniversary Exhibition, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
New York Meets the Dam, Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Are We Sufficiently Bored?, Tyler Galleries, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
America is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Slip of the Tongue, Punta della Dogana, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy
Once Upon a Time and Now, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Center, New York, NY
Left Coast: California Political Art, CUNY Graduate Center’s James Gallery, New York, NY
Art, AIDS, America, ONE Archives Gallery & Museum, University of Southern California, West Hollywood, CA; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
Talk to the Hand, LYNCH THAM, New York, NY
2014
Loisaida: New York’s Lower East Side in the ’80s, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
City as Canvas: New York Graffiti from the Martin Wong Collection, Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
2013
Secrets, Loss, Memory, and Courage: Works by Gay Male Artists, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
Double Hamburger Deluxe, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, NY
Blues for Smoke, The Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
Taiping Tianguo, A History of Possible Encounters, SALT, Istanbul, Turkey
NOT OVER: 25 Years of Visual AIDS, La MaMa Galleria, New York, NY
IMUUR2, Martin Wong’s Collection, Installation by Danh Vo, The Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Blues for Smoke, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2012
Julie Ault/Heinz Peter Knes/Danh Vo/Martin Wong, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, Germany
The Spectrum of Sexuality, Hebrew Union College Museum, New York, NY
Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969-1989, The New Museum, New York, NY
We The People, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York, NY
B-OUT, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
Silence, The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Taiping Tianguo, A History of Possible Encounters, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong
Every Exit is an Entrance: 30 years of Exit Art, Exit Art, New York, NY
Blues for Smoke, MOCA Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
Contemporary Painting, 1960 to the Present, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
2011
Art, Access & Decay: NY 1975-1985, Subliminal Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Acquisition and installation of Stanton Near Forsyth Street, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Art in the Streets, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2010
Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession), Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
Urban Archives, The Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
Global/National: The Order of Chaos, Exit Art, New York, NY
Downtown Pix: Mining the Fales Archives, Grey Gallery, New York, NY
2009
Between Art and Life: The Painting and Sculpture Collection, San Francisco, CA
Rapture, Church and Market, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
2008
Sweet Enuff, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
The Dorthy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents 1900 – 1970, curated by Mark Johnson, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
The Louvrefritos, Cuchifritos Gallery and Project Space, New York, NY
Street art Street Life: From 1950s to Now, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
Idle Youth, Gladstone Gallery, curated by Russell Ferguson, New York, NY
Side X Side, Visual AIDS, curated by Dean Daderko, New York, NY
Related Exhibition: Sweet Oblivion: Graffiti, Drawings, and Photos from the
Martin Wong Papers, New York University, Fales Library Special Collection, New York, NY
2007
The Price of Nothing: Luxury after the Real Estate Show, EFA Gallery, New York, NY
2006
Big City Fall, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
New York’s Own, curated by Chris Daze Ellis, Fuse Gallery, New York, NY
The Downtown Show, The New York Art Scene 1974-1984, curated by Carlo McCormick, NYU Grey Art Gallery and The Fales Library, New York, NY
2005
It’s a rough world, how’s your armor?, thebody.com
2004
21, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
East Village USA, curated by Dan Cameron, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
2003
Charlie Ahearn: Artists, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Look Up! Contemplating the Skies, curated by Thomas Woodruff, New York Academy of Sciences, New York, NY
Commodification of Buddhism, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
2002
Social Landscape, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Subject Matters: An Exhibition of Subject Driven Art, curated by Norman Dubrow, Kravitz/Wehby Gallery, New York, NY
Sex Pots: The Erotic Life of Clay, San Francisco State University Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2001
One Planet Under A Groove: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
Context: Recent Art from Cuba in the Permanent Collection, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
Humor and Rage: 5 Contemporary Painters from the United States, Fundacio Caixa Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Pollock to Today, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2000
Manhattan Contrasts, NY Historic Society, New York, NY
The Figure: Another Side of Modernism, Paintings from 1950 to the Present, curated by Lilly Wei, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island, NY
1999
Radiant Children: Art of the East Village, curated by Jonathan Weinberg and Joel Handorff, Lamia Ink!, New York, NY
1998
Conviviality & Confetti: Holiday Imagery in Art, The Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, NJ
FotoGraf, The Web Gallery, New York, NY
1997
Reflections of Taste, American Art from Greenwich Collections, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT
The Web Gallery, New York, NY
1996
Sites of Chinatown, Museum of Chinese in the Americas, New York, NY
The Usual Suspects, curated by Daze, Avanti Gallery New York, NY
Blood Fairies, curated by Frank Moore, Geoff Hendricks and Sur Rodney, Artists Space, New York, NY
Arts Communities/AIDS Communities: Realizing the Archive Project, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
Give Life to Art: The First Step, presented by Gallery (+) Positive and Visual AIDS, Fire Island Pines, NY
Our Deities, ISE Art Foundation, New York, NY
1995
Art for Education: Public Art in the School System, The Palace Hotel, New York, NY
Art at the Edge: Social Turf, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Murder, curated by John Yau, Thread Waxing Space, New York, NY
In a Different Light, University Art Museum Berkeley, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Art as Dramatic Comedy: an exhibition exploring comic traditions as defined by literature in contemporary art, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
Imperfect, Herter Art Gallery, Amherst, MA
Drawn on the Museum, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1994
New York Realism: Past and Present, curated by Doug Dreishpoon, Odakyu Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Kagoshima City Museum of Art, Japan; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art; The Museum of Art, Kintetsu, Osaka, Japan; Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL
1993
Fallen Idylls: American Figurative Painting, curated by Christopher Sweet and P·P·O·W, New York, NY
GODZILLA, The Asian American Arts Network: The New World Order III, The Curio Shop, Artists Space, New York, NY
The Martin County Council for the Arts, Stuart, FL
1992
The New American Cityscape, curated by Amy Simon, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT
Malcom X Show, curated by Jeremy Nader, City College of New York, New York, NY
Contemporary Male Nudes, Graham Modern, New York, NY
1991
Belly of the Beast, curated by Francisco Hernandez, Charles Lucien Gallery, New York, NY
Your House is Mine, project by Andrew Castrucci and Nadia Cohen, Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
The New Depressionists, curated by Lee Quinones, Kenkeleba House, New York, NY
In the Looking Glass, Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Queer Art Show, curated by Nayland Blake, New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA
Hip-Hop, curated by Anne Pasternack and Francisco Hernandez, New Art Ways, Hartford, CT
Office Installations, curated by Judy Collishan, CW Post Campus, Long Island University, New York, NY
Access, (Art and Representing the Handicapped) Islip Museum, Islip Long Island, NY
Della Cova, Anne Plumb Gallery, New York, NY
The Hybrid State, EXIT ART, New York, NY
Images of Labor: The 90s, Gallery 1199, New York, NY
1990
Benefit for “God’s Love We Deliver,” Sotheby’s New York, NY
Brick Dicks and Swastikas, with Benjamin Liepelt, CBGB’s, New York, NY
Tiananmen Memorial Show, curated by Asian American Arts Center, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong
Flaneur/Flaneuse: Out on a Stroll, Barbara Fendrick, New York, NY
Decade Show 1990, MOCHA, New York, NY
Inside the Beast, curated by Francisco Hernandez, Charles Lucien Gallery, New York, NY
Lower East Side Print Shop Retrospective, Tompkins Square Park Library, New York, NY
Your House is Mine, Bullet Space, New York, NY
Bastille Day Show, Steve Mass, New York, NY
Queer, Wessel-O’Conner Gallery, New York, NY
AIDS Time-Line, curated by Ken Chu, The Clocktower, New York, NY
Jazz and the Blues Aesthetics, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY
Brut 90, White Columns, New York, NY
1989
Interiors, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
Future Now, Bass Museum, Miami, FL
Uptown Downtown, curated by Bob Lee, City Gallery, Columbus Circle, New York, NY
Urban Images, Madison Arts Center, Madison, WI
Free Puerto Rico, Black and White in Color, Bronx, NY
The Blues Aesthetics, WPA, Washington, D.C.
Center Show, Gay and Lesbian Cultural Center, New York, NY
First Amendment Show, Sally Hawkins, New York, NY
Flag Show, Red Zone, New York, NY
Democracy, curated by Group Material, DIA Art Foundation, New York, NY
Visions of Revolution, El Castillo Cultural Center, New York, NY
China, June 4, curated by Asian American Arts Center, Blum Helman Warehouse, New York, NY
Benefit for San Salvador, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY
1988
The Social Club, EXIT ART, New York, NY
The 1980s: A New Generation, American Painters and Sculptors, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Acts of Faith, curated by Lucy Lippard, Cleveland State University, OH
Politics and Election installations by Group Material, Dia Art Foundation, New York, NY
AIDS and Democracy, installations by Group Material, Dia Art Foundation, New York, NY
100 Years of the Lower East Side, curated by Anton van Dalen, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
The Immoral Show, curated by Ron English, Tunnel, New York, NY
1987
Art of the Eighties, Karl Bornstein Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Three Jack-o-Lanterns, Halloween party, 56 Bleecker Gallery, New York, NY
Curators’ Choice, Gerstadt Gallery, New York, NY
Urban Visions, Adelphi University, Adelphi, NY
Bigger and Deffer, curated by D.D. Chapin, Seventh Avenue Space, New York, NY
Two Man Show, with Benjamin Lipalet, Milk Bar, New York, NY
Constitution, curated by Group Material, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
GNARLY-MO, curated by Steven Schwartz, Limelight, New York, NY
The Castle, an installation by Group Material, at Documenta 8, Kassel, West Germany
The Mind’s I, Part 1, Asian Arts Institute, New York, NY
Resistance, (Anti-Baudrillard) Group Material, White Columns, New York, NY
Art for Money, a benefit for Fashion Moda, Art and Industrie, New York, NY
1986
Freedom of Painting, Galerie Paradis, Paris, France
Text/Texture, curated by Peggy Cyphers, Ground Zero, New York, NY
The East Village, curated by Richard Martin, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY
Short Stories, curated by Judd Tully, One Penn Plaza, New York, NY
Eight Urban Painters, Fine Arts Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook
Strange Brew, Chronocide, New York, NY
Ten Chinatown, Asian Arts Institute, New York, NY
1985
Hard Cold Facts, curated by Rick Prol, B-Side Gallery, New York, NY
Benefit for Fashion Moda, curated by James Poppitz, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, NY
Innocence and Experience, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC; First Street Gallery, New York, NY
Photosynthesis, curated by Ellen Lubell, One Penn Plaza, New York, NY
Cross Currents, curated by Joe Stabilito, Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Audacious: Some Extremist Tendencies in East Village Art, curated by Dan Cameron,
Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
Urban Spirit, City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
East Village Art Collection, The Palladium, New York, NY
Works on Paper, Semaphore East, New York, NY
Precious, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, NY; The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
American Occult, Kamikaze, New York, NY
Tight as Spring, curated by Barry Blinderman, Kamikaze, New York, NY
Illuminations, curated by Joey Handorff, Dramatic Personae Gallery, New York, NY
Auto da Fe, curated by Steve Whitesell, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
The Monster Show, Nico Smith Gallery, New York, NY
Semaphore and Semaphore East Galleries, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, WI
East Village at Centre, Centre Sakdye Bronfman, Montreal, Quebec
1984
Urban Landscapes, Semaphore East, New York, NY
East Infection, curated by Carlo McCormick, Zero One, Los Angeles, CA
Small Works, NOW Gallery, New York, NY
New Narrative Painting, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City
Bacchanalia, New York Public Library, Tompkins Square Branch, New York, NY
New York Now, curated by Manuela Filiaci & Carlo McCormick, Nello Studio di Corrado Levi, Milan, Italy
The Acid Test, Sensory Evolution Gallery, New York, NY
Aspects of the City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Neo York, University of California at Santa Barbara, CA
Street Politics, Real Art Waves, Hartford, CT
Chill Out New York, curated by Steve L. Kaplan, Kenkeleba House, New York, NY
Conspiracies, Limbo Lounge, New York, NY
Carnival, Kamikaze, New York, NY
10th St.& Avenue B/East Village Art Today, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
Extravaganza, Dramatic Personae Gallery, New York, NY
Psychology, New York Public Library, Tompkins Square Branch, New York, NY
In My End is My Beginning, Semaphore, New York, NY
The New Portrait, curated by Jeffrey Deitch, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY
Limbo, curated by Walter Robinson and Carlo McCormick, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY
Climbing: The East Village, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
Situation, curated by Steven L. Kaplan, Bess Cutler Gallery, New York, NY
Dr. Mueller’s Theotherapy, curated by Cookie Mueller, Kamikaze, New York, NY
East Side Story, curated by Rick Prol, Cat Club, New York, NY
Martin Wong & Sharp, Limbo Lounge, New York, NY
Urban Artists, Kamikaze, New York, NY
1983
Gracie Mansion Presents, Kamikaze, New York, NY
A. More Store, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
Science Fair, Danceteria, New York, NY
Science and Prophecy, curated by Steve Whitesell and Joel Handorff, White Columns, New York, NY
Underdog, curated by Rick Prol, East 7th Street Gallery, New York, NY
Lower East Side Polygon-Part II, Danceteria, New York, NY
Contemporary Prints, Tibor de Nagy, New York, NY
Terminal New York, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Brooklyn, NY
Wish You’d Been Here, curated by Carlo McCormick, ABC No Rio, New York, NY
Resurrection, St. Mark’s Intercollegiate Church, New York, NY
1982
Group Show, 301 Houston Street Gallery, New York, NY
Crime Show, curated by John Spencer, ABC No Rio, New York, NY
Select Public Collections
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA The Art Institute of Chicago, IL Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY California State Building in San Francisco, CA Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH de Young Museum – The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA The Fales Library and Special Collections at New York University, NY Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY New York Historical Society, New York, NY San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA School, IS90M, Washington Heights, New York, NY The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Select Bibliography
2024
Gemma Rolls-Bentley. Queer Art, From Canvas to Club, and the Spaces Between. Frances Lincoln, London, UK. 2024, pp. 70.
2023
Chaffee, Cathleen. “Pushing Boundaries 1960-2020.” American Art: Selections from the Yale University Art Gallery, edited by Stacey A Wujcik, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2023, pp. 248, 266-267.
2022
Haden-Guest, Anthony. Tom Warren: The 1980s Art Scene in New York, edited by Nico Zeifang et al., Hatje Cantz Verlag GmbH & Co KG, Berlin, 2022, pp. 57-58, 84, 243, 312, 313.
Smalls, Shante Paradigm. “Wild Stylin’: Martin Wong’s Queer Visuality in New York City Graffiti.” Hip Hop Heresies: Queer Aesthetics in New York City, NYU Press, New York, NY, 2022, pp. 25–52.
2021
Ho, Christopher K. and Daisy Nam. “Best!: Letters from Asian Americans in the Arts,” Paper Monument, 2021.
2019
Weinberg, Jonathan, editor. Art After Stonewall 1969-1989, Rizzoli Electa, New York, NY, 2019, p. 256.
2018
Kwon, Junghyun, et al., editors. “Martin Wong.” East Village NY: Vulnerable and Extreme, translated by Jiwon Yu, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, 2018, pp. 218–221.
2017
Phillips, Lisa, editor. “Sweet Oblivion: The Urban Landscape of Martin Wong.” 40 Years New, New Museum/Phaidon Press, New York, NY, 2017, pp. 114–116.
Martin, Susan, Maynard Monrow, Bill Stelling, eds. “Love Among the Ruins: 56 Bleeker Gallery and Late 80’s New York,” Howl! Archive Publishing. Vol. 1, No. 19 (2017). Pg. 64, 106. Illus.: Two Skeletons (1973) and Mary-Ann (1988).
2016
Dudek, Ingrid, “I am You, You Are Too,” ArtAsiaPacific. May/June 2016. pg. 70-79. Illus.: Mikey and Little Angel (1984), I really Like the Way Firemen Smell (1988), City as a Canvas (2014), Tell My Troubles to the Eight Ball (Eureka) (1978-81), Voices (1981), My Secret World (1978-81), Brainwashing Cult Cons Top TV Star (1981), Attorney Street (Handball Court with Autobiographical Poem by Pinero) (1982-84), Sharp & Dottie (1984), Sweet ’Enuff (1987), The Annunciation According to Mikey Pinero (Cupcake and Paco) (1984), Top Cat (1990), Penitentiary Fox (1988), Reckless (1991).
Harris, Susan, and Mary Anne Staniszewski, editors. Unfinished Memories/30 Years of Exit Art, 1st ed., Steidl, 2016, p. 4, 24, 33, 42, 51, 53, 71, 92, 109, 120, 179, 190-1, 225, 256, 290, 373, 396.
2013
Catalog. Martin Wong’s Collection,” Published by Galerie Buchholz & Koenig Books.
Boucher, Brian. “Danh Vo Channels Martin Wong at the Guggenheim,” Art in America, March 15, 2013.
Bushman, M. “Danh Vo: ‘IMUUR2’ at the Guggenheim Museum through May 27th,” Artobserved.com, May 14, 2013.
Russeth, Andrew. “The Hugo Boss Prize 2012: Danh Vo ‘IMUUR2’ at the Guggenheim Museum,” Gallerist, March 19, 2013.
Smith, Roberta. “Awash in a Cultural Deluge,” New York Times, March 14, 2013.
Sutton, Benjamin. “Danh Vo’ Guggenheim Show Is a Collaboration with Deceased Artist Martin Wong,” artinfo.com, March 22, 2013.
Wong, Ryan. “Charming Stuff: Danh Vo and Martin Wong,” Hyperallergic, March 27, 2013.
2012
Catalog. “Silence,” The Menil Collection, Houston, TX.
Taiping Tianguo, A History of Possible Encounters, Artron.net, April 19.
Catalog, “Art in the Streets,” essay in “A Fable” by Carlo McCormick, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, CA.
2010
Rosenberg, Karen. “Martin Wong: Art in Review”, The New York Times, January 22, 2010.
Laster, Paul. “Martin Wong: Art Review” Time Out New York, Issue 747. January 21, 2010.
Schwendener, Martha. “Gritty, Mostly Male and White: Art Review”, The New York Times. January 14, 2010.
Monforton, Mary-Ann. “Out & About: On Bended Knee,” BOMB. January 13, 2010.
“Martin Wong: Goings on About Town,” The New Yorker, January 13, 2010.
Kley, Elisabeth. “Gotham Art and Theater,” Artnet.com, January 5, 2010.
Pollack, Barbara. “Martin Wong,” ARTnews. March 2010. Volume 109, No. 3. p. 110.
Stillman, Nick. “Martin Wong,” Artforum International, XLVIII, No. 8. April 2010. p.193.
2009
Catalog. “Everything Must Go,” from essay “Romancing the Brick,” by Carlo McCormick, P·P·O·W Gallery, NY.
2008
Catalog. “Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents 1900-1970, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (reproduction) p. 151.
Cotter, Holland. “Finding Art in the Asphalt,” The New York Times. September 12, 2008 (reproduction).
Cotter, Holland. “Side X Side,” The New York Times, July 25, 2008.
Catalog. “Idle Youth,” Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY. (reproduction) p.39.
2007
Cotter, Holland. “The Price of Nothing: Luxury after The Real Estate Show,” The New York Times, October 26, 2007.
2006
Frank 151. Book 22. cover reproduction.
Catalog. “The Downtown Book,” The New York Art Scene 1974-1984, p. 88, 183 (reproduction). Edited by Marvin J. Taylor.
2005
McCormick, Carlo. “East Village USA,” Juxtapoz, May/June. p. 58, 59 (reproduction).
2004
Catalog. “East Village USA”, New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY. (reproduction, p.31 and p.144).
Smith, Roberta. “Looking Back at the Flurry on the Far Side,” The New York Times, December 2. E35 & E37.
Williams, J. “Whitewash of mural stains school morale,” Daily News, Aug. 11.
Petry, Michael. “Hidden Histories: 20th Century Male Same Sex Lovers in The Visual Arts,” Art Media Press, 2004. Published in Great Britain.
2002
Banai, Nuit. “In the Groove,” Review of One Planet Under a Groove Exhibition. www.artnet.com
“One Planet under a groove,” Art Juxtapoz, May/June. (reproduction).
Lopez, Luciana. “Hip Hop Planet,” URB91, March. p.48 (reproduction).
Smith, Roberta. “Out of the Vociferous Planet and in the Orbit of Funk and Hip-Hop,” New York Times, January16. (reproduction).
Joo, Eungie. “Bring That Beat Back,” FYI NYFA, Spring. (reproduction).
Caramanica, Jon. “Hip-Hop Don’t Stop,” Village Voice, January 15.
McCaffery, Damien. “Under the Influence,” VIBE, January. (reproduction).
2001
Antoniou, Antonis, and Steven Heller. Decoding Manhattan, Abrams, New York, NY, 2001, p. 199, 222.
Cotter, Holland. “Retrieving Magic from the Vault” New York Times, January 5.
Hill, Joe. Review, Art in America, September. (reproduction)
Spiegel, Olga. “Cinco pintores cuestionan en la Pedrera con rabia y humor la sociedad de EE. UU,” La Vanguardia, January 30.
Molina, Angela. “La Pedrera muestra el humor y la rabia de 5 pintores norteamericanos,” ABC Cataluna, January 30.
2000
Paolini, Elaine. “Shifting Geography Captured in Cityscapes,” New York Resident, July 26 (reproduction).
Catalog, The Figure: Another Side of Modernism. Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY. June 4, 2000 – January 14, 2001.
Bruce, Jeffrey. “Red Brick and Chain Link,” The International Review of African American Art, Vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 37 – 41 (reproduction).
McCormick, Carlo. “Village Voice,” Artforum, March. pp. 22, 25.
1999
“Martin Wong,” Milestones, POZ, November. p.44 (reproduction).
Cottini, Carrie. Review, “Martin Wong at First Street,” Artweek, November.
“Portrait of the Artist: Martin Wong’s Days on North Coast Revealed in Exhibit,” Times Standard, September 17. p. C1.
Doran, Bob. “Wong: The Eureka Years,” North Coast Journal, September 2.
Zamora, Jim Herron. Obituary, San Francisco Examiner, August 22.
Anderson, David. Obituary, “Artist Wong, ‘Human Instamatic,’ Dead at 53,” Times Standard, August 19. front page.
Smith, Roberta. Obituary, “A Painter of Poetic Realism,” The New York Times, August 18.
Wong, Martin. “Martin Wong Meets Martin Wong,” Giant Robot, Summer. pp. 48-50.
The American Art Book, Phaidon, 1999. p. 496.
1998
Kuspit, Donald. “Martin Wong at the New Museum of Contemporary Art,” Art New England, December/January. p. 13.
Maniaci, Cara. NY Arts, July/August 1. p. 16.
Frankel, David. “Martin Wong,” Artforum, October. p. 117.
Schwabsky, Barry. “A City of Bricks and Ciphers,” Art in America, September. pp.100-105.
Cotter, Holland. “The Streets of a Crumbling El Dorado, Paved with Poetry and Desire,”
The New York Times, Friday, June 5. p. E35.
Featured in Simon Says, Summer. Vol. 2, Issue 10.
Porges, Tim. Dialogue, May/June. pp. 14-15.
Trebay, Guy. “The Bricklayer’s Art,” The Village Voice, May 26. p.30.
Artforum, “Preview,” May. p. 46.
1997
Cotter, Holland. “Art and AIDS the Stuff Life is Made of,” Art in America, April 1997, pp. 50 & 56 (reproductions).
1996
Zipangu, February (cover reproduction).
1991
Harrison, Helen A. “Hidden Reserves of the Handicapped,” The New York Times.
Hirsh, David. “Urban Realist Paints `Where I Live,’” Bay Area Reporter, February 14.
Hess, Elizabeth. “The Persian Gulf School,” Village Voice, February 12.
1990
Hirsh, David. “From the Lower East Side,” New York Native, October15.
Hagen, Charles. “All That Jazz,” ARTnews, February.
1989
Raven, Arlene. “Fo(u)r Freedoms,” Village Voice, October 10.
Hedegaard, Erik. “Tenements to the Stars,” Mother Jones, July/August.
Hirsh, David. “The Center Show,” New York Native, June 26.
McCormick, Carlo. Artforum, March.
Sturman, John. “Martin Wong,” ARTnews, March.
Zinsser, John. “Martin Wong at EXIT ART and Frank Bernaducci,” Art in America, March.
Mahoney, Robert. Arts, February.
Atkins, Robert. “International Art Arena,” February.
1988
Atkins, Robert. “7 Days,” December 7.
Hess, Elizabeth. “Working the Street,” Village Voice, November 29.
Urquhart, Ross. “Art Reviews,” The New Common Good, February.
1987
Talking Heads. What the Songs Look Like. New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers, 1987. pg. 40-41. Illus.: My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks)
1986
Levin, Kim. “Semaphore,” The Village Voice, October 21.
Brenson, Michael. “Semaphore,” The New York Times, Friday, October 3.
Martin, Richard. “What is Absent in Objects: The New Painting of Martin Wong,” Arts, October.
Lewis, Joe. “The Vanishing Neighborhood,” East Village Eye, April.
Cameron, Dan. “Image and Authority: The Recent Painting of Martin Wong,” Arts, January.
O’Brien Glenn. “Semaphore East,” Artforum, January.
1985
Rosenblatt, Roger. “A Christmas Story,” TIME Magazine. Illustrated by Martin Wong. December 30, 1985. pg. 18-30.
Haggerty, Gerald. “Semaphore East,” The New York Times, Friday, October 25.
Raynor, Vivien. “Semaphore East,” The New York Times, Friday, October 25.
Deitch, Jeffrey and Kuspit, Donald. “Critics’ Picks,” Avenue, May.
Mittelmark, Howard. “Loony at the Top,” Art & Antiques, January.
Urquhart, Ross. “Resisting the Insular Art World,” The New Common Good, January.
1984
Tajima, Marsha. “Poet of Decay,” Bridge, Vol. 9, No. 3/4.
O’Brien, Glenn. “Semaphore East,” Artforum, December.
Hoffman, Randi. “Big Painting Disappears Without a Trace,” The Uptown Dispatch, November 22.
Wolff, Theodore F. “Views of the City that Inspire and Graffiti that Do Not,” Christian Science Monitor, November 27.
Henry, Gerrit. “Semaphore,” Art in America, November.
Ramirez-Harwood, Yasmin. “Writing in the Sky: An Interview with Martin Wong,” East Village Eye, October.
Indiana, Gary. “The ‘Private’ Collector: An Interview with Norman Dubrow,” Village Voice, October 23.
Mucahy, Susan. “Deep in the Art of the East Village,” New York Post, October 22.
Olstrom, Mary Ann. ”‘Priceless’ Art Irks Dealer,” New York Magazine, October 15.
Somaini, Luisa. “Le pezzie de ‘post’ arrivano sui Navigli-Ecco l’arte del `East Village,’” La Repubblica, October 6.
Cotter, Holland. “Martin Wong,” Arts, September.
Robinson, Walter and McCormick, Carlo. “Slouching Toward Avenue D,” Art in America, Summer.
Kuspit, Donald. “Climbing,” Artforum, April.
Mueller, Cookie. “Small Works,” Details, Match.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art Nueva Pintura Narrative: Coleccion del Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 1984.
1983
Raynor, Vivien. “Climbing: The East Village,” The New York Times, January 27.
Select Books and Catalogs
2023
Madey, Candice, et al. Luxe, Calme, Volupté. SJ Weiler Press; Candice Madey New York, 2023. Illus. pp 73, 86, 91.
Ferguson, Russell. “Bohemia: History of an Idea 1950-2000,” Kunsthalle Praha. Prague, Czech Republic, 2023. Illus. pp. 115.
2022
Gruijthuijsen, Krist and Agustin Pérez Rubio, editors. “Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief,” Verlag der Buchhandlung, 2022.
2021
“City as Studio,” Hong Kong, K11 Art Foundation, 2021.
2020
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “A Time of Crisis,” New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2020. Illus. pp. 12-13.
2019
Columbus Museum of Art. “Art After Stonewall,” New York, NY: Rizzoli, 2019. Illus. pp. 265.
2017
The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art’s, Innovative Approaches Honored Traditions. Clinton, NY: Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, 2017. Pg. 240-241Illus.: Untitled (Time) (1983).
Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei. “Spectrosynthesis: Asian LGBT Issues and Art Now,” Taipei, TW: Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (2017). Illus. pp. 100 -103.
2015
The Bronx Museum of Art. “The Human Instamatic,” London, UK: Black Dog Publishing Limited, 2015.
Burkhart, Caitlin and Julian Myers-Szupinska, eds. “My Trip to America by Martin Wong,” Oakland, CA: California College of the Arts, 2015.
Para Site. “Taiping Tianguo: A History of Impossible Encounters,” Berlin, GE: Sternberg Press, 2015.
2013
Wong, Martin. “I.M.U.U.R. 2.,” Edited by Julie Ault. Photos by Danh Vo and Heinz Peter Knes. Berlin, GE: Konig, 2013.
Museum of the City of New York. “City as a Canvas: New York City Graffiti: The Martin Wong Collection,” New York, NY: Skira Rizzoli Publication, 2013.
2012
The Menil Collection. “Silence,” Catalogue. Houston, TX: The Menil Collection, 2012.
Charles B. Benenson Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery. “Eye on a Century,” Catalogue. New Haven, CT: Charles B. Benenson Collection, 2012.
2009
McCormick, Carlo. “Everything Must Go,” Catalog. New York, NY: PPOW. 2009.
2008
Chang, Gordon H., et al. “Asian American Art: A History,” 1850-1970. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008. P. 260, 261, 543-455.
2006
Taylor, Marvin J. ed. “The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene, 1974-1984,” Grey Art Gallery. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006.
2004
Johnson, Mark Dean. “Martin Wong’s Utopia: A Peaceful Life and Heavenly Place,” San Francisco, CA: Chinese Historical Society of America, 2004.
Ault, Julie and Dan Cameron. “East Village USA,” New York, NY: New Museum Publications, 2004.
2003
Kim, Elaine H. “Fresh Talk/Daring Gaze: Conversations on Asian American Art,” Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003.
Arnason, H.H. “History of Modern Art,” 5th ed. London, UK: Pearson Publishing, 2003. Pg. 712-713.
2001
Fundacio Caixa Catalunya. “L’Humor I La Rabia: Humor and Rage, Five Contemporary Painters from the United States,” Barcelona, ES: Fundacio Caxia Catalunya, 2001.
Dixon, Jenny. “One Planet Under a Groove: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art,” Bronx, NY: Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2001.
Anderson, Maxwell L. “Whitney: American Visionaries – Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art,” New York, NY: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2001.
2000
Georgia, Olivia, Lilly Wei, Alexi Worth, and John Yau. “The Figure: Another Side of Modernism,” Staten Island, NY: Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 2000.
1998
Scholder, Amy, ed. “Sweet Oblivion: The Urban Landscape of Martin Wong,” New York, NY: Rizzoli Press, 1998.
Abrams, Harry N. “The Art of the State of California,” 1998.
1995
Yau, John. “Murder,” Los Angeles, CA: Smart Art Press, 1995.
1993
N.Y City Council President Andrew Stein and the Chinese American Art Council, An All-Salute to Chinese American Cultural Pioneers, New York, New York: N.Y City Council and Chinese American Art Council, 1993.
1990
Lippard, Lucy R. “Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America,” New York, NY: The New Press, 1990.
Conwill, Kinshasha, Nilda Peraza, and Marcia Tucker, “The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980’s,” New York, NY: New Museum of Contemporary Art/Studio Museum in Harlem, 1990.
1988
EXIT Art, “Martin Wong.” Catalogue. Essay by John Yau. New York, NY: Exit Art, 1988.
1986
MacGuire, William J. “Art Aid.” Catalogue. New York, 1986.
Fine Arts Center Gallery, State University of New York at Stony Brook, “Eight Urban Artists,” Stony Brook, NY: SUNY Stony Brook Press, 1986.
1985
El Bohio Contemporary Art Auction Benefit. El Bohio, New York. 1985.
Styron, Tommy. “Innocence and Experience: Exhibition and Catalogue,” Greenville, SC: Greenville County Museum of Art, 1985.
1984
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva Pintura Narrative: Coleccion del Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984.
Blinderman, Barry. “Thomas Lawson, and Susan Morgan, Contemporary Perspectives, Nineteen Eighty-Four,” Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1984.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Notable Acquisitions, 1984-1985. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984.
1977
Ross, John. “Eureka,” Illustrated by Martin Wong. 1977.
1970
B.A. Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Twilight Child: Antonia Kuo and Martin Wong, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
The Midnight Sea, A Little Dash of LSD, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2023
Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany; Camden Arts Centre, London, UK; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2022
Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, Spain
Dream Fungus: Early Works, 1967-1978, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, Germany
2021
1981–2021, Martin Wong / Aaron Gilbert, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2017
Human Instamatic, UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
2016
Voices, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Human Instamatic, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
2015
Human Instamatic, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY
Painting is Forbidden, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA
2010
Martin Wong Works 1980 – 1998, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, Germany
2009
Everything Must Go, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Art, Archives and Activism = Martin Wong’s Downtown Crossing, Asian/Pacific/American Institute, New York University, NY
2004
Martin Wong’s Utopia, Chinese Historical Society of America Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
2001
Martin Wong: Storefronts 1984-86, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
1999
Martin Wong: The Eureka Years, Humboldt State University First Street Gallery, Eureka, CA
1998
Sweet Oblivion: The Urban Landscape of Martin Wong, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY; University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Martin Wong: New Work, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
1994
York College, Queens, NY
1993
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Chinatown USA, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
1991
Soap, Erotic Jail Paintings, The Pyramid Club, New York, NY
1988
Martin Wong, EXIT ART, New York, NY
Frank Bernarducci Gallery, New York, NY
1987
Here and Now, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
Signs of Significance, Sacco’s, Ridgefield, CT
Living for the City, The Saint, New York, NY
1986
Picture Show, Semaphore, New York, NY
Martin Wong: Messages to the Public: IMU, UR2, Public Art Fund, Times Square, New York, NY
1985
Semaphore, New York, NY
1984
Semaphore, New York, NY
Select Group Exhibitions
2024
Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (forthcoming)
The Way I See It: Selections from the KAWS Collection, The Drawing Center, New York, NY (forthcoming)
Legacies: Asian American Art Movements in New York City (1969-2001), 80WSE, New York University, New York, NY (forthcoming)
City as Canvas: Graffiti Art from the Martin Wong Collection, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN (forthcoming)
For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA (forthcoming)
To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA (forthcoming)
Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
Making Room: Museum as Space for Self-Expression, Bronx Museum, New York, NY
Urban Art Evolution, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY
Ten Thousand Suns, 24th Sydney Biennale, Sydney, Australia
In the Shadow of the American Dream, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics, The Institutum, Gillman Barracks, Singapore
GODZILLA: Echoes of the 1990s Asian American Arts Network, Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, NY
Unlife Part II, Soft Opening, London, UK
2023
Unlife, Soft Opening at Paul Soto, Los Angeles, CA
Wild Style 40, curated by Carlos McCormick, Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY
Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, Vincent Price Art Museum, Monterey Park, CA; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
The Collection: New Conversations, The New York Historical Society, New York, NY
Luxe, Calme, Volupté, Candice Madey, New York, NY
This is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture, Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
Il Morso delle Termiti, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
City as Studio, Curated by Jeffrey Deitch, K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
Just Between Us: From the Archives of Arlan Huang, Pearl River Mart Gallery, New York, NY
Bohemia: History of an Idea, 1950–2000, Kunshalle Praha, Prague, Czech Republic
Myth Makers: Spectrosynthesis III, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
2022
East of the Pacific: Making Histories of Asian American Art, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, CA
Somewhere Downtown, UCCA, Beijing, China
Phraseology, Bass Museum, Miami, FL
Every Moment Counts—AIDS and its Feelings, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Sandvika, Norway
2021
QUEER OUT T/HERE, Tong Art Advisory Salon, New York, NY
ZEROS + ONES, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
Stories from Storage, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
2020
Dreaming Together: New-York Historical Society and Asia Society Museum, New York, NY
Around Day’s End, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Did I Ever Have a Chance?, Curated by Jacob Robichaux, Marc Selwyn, Los Angeles, CA
Beauty Can Be the Opposite of a Number, Bureau, New York, NY
Walls Turned Sideways: Artist Confront the Justice System, Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford, MA
The Studio of the Street, K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
2019
Hong Kong, MX Gallery, New York, NY
About Face: Stonewell, Revolt, and the New Queer, Wrightwood 659, Chicago, IL
Art After Stonewall, Art After Stonewall, 1969 to 1989, Grey Art Gallery and Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York, NY; The Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Stonewall 50, Arcus Pride, Clifford Chance, New York, NY
2018
A Page from My Intimate Journal (Part 1), Gordon Robichaux, New York, NY
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX
2017
AIDS at Home and Everyday Activism, Museum of the City of New York, NY
I Plan to Stay a Believer, Andrew Kreps, New York, NY
Street Hassle, Marlborough Contemporary, London, UK
Spectrosynthesis – Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
2016
Tie His Hands Gently, Romeo, New York, NY
Desire, Moore Building, Miami, FL
Painting 2.0. Expression in the Information Age, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
Art, AIDS, America, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY; Alphawood Gallery, Chicago, IL
Hardlove, curated by Barry Blinderman, Martos Gallery, New York, NY
2015
afterlife, curated by Julie Ault, Galerie Buchholz, New York, NY
40: The Anniversary Exhibition, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
New York Meets the Dam, Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Are We Sufficiently Bored?, Tyler Galleries, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
America is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Slip of the Tongue, Punta della Dogana, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy
Once Upon a Time and Now, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Center, New York, NY
Left Coast: California Political Art, CUNY Graduate Center’s James Gallery, New York, NY
Art, AIDS, America, ONE Archives Gallery & Museum, University of Southern California, West Hollywood, CA; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
Talk to the Hand, LYNCH THAM, New York, NY
2014
Loisaida: New York’s Lower East Side in the ’80s, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
City as Canvas: New York Graffiti from the Martin Wong Collection, Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
2013
Secrets, Loss, Memory, and Courage: Works by Gay Male Artists, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
Double Hamburger Deluxe, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, NY
Blues for Smoke, The Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
Taiping Tianguo, A History of Possible Encounters, SALT, Istanbul, Turkey
NOT OVER: 25 Years of Visual AIDS, La MaMa Galleria, New York, NY
IMUUR2, Martin Wong’s Collection, Installation by Danh Vo, The Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Blues for Smoke, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2012
Julie Ault/Heinz Peter Knes/Danh Vo/Martin Wong, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, Germany
The Spectrum of Sexuality, Hebrew Union College Museum, New York, NY
Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969-1989, The New Museum, New York, NY
We The People, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York, NY
B-OUT, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
Silence, The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Taiping Tianguo, A History of Possible Encounters, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong
Every Exit is an Entrance: 30 years of Exit Art, Exit Art, New York, NY
Blues for Smoke, MOCA Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
Contemporary Painting, 1960 to the Present, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
2011
Art, Access & Decay: NY 1975-1985, Subliminal Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Acquisition and installation of Stanton Near Forsyth Street, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Art in the Streets, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2010
Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession), Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
Urban Archives, The Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
Global/National: The Order of Chaos, Exit Art, New York, NY
Downtown Pix: Mining the Fales Archives, Grey Gallery, New York, NY
2009
Between Art and Life: The Painting and Sculpture Collection, San Francisco, CA
Rapture, Church and Market, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
2008
Sweet Enuff, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
The Dorthy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents 1900 – 1970, curated by Mark Johnson, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
The Louvrefritos, Cuchifritos Gallery and Project Space, New York, NY
Street art Street Life: From 1950s to Now, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
Idle Youth, Gladstone Gallery, curated by Russell Ferguson, New York, NY
Side X Side, Visual AIDS, curated by Dean Daderko, New York, NY
Related Exhibition: Sweet Oblivion: Graffiti, Drawings, and Photos from the
Martin Wong Papers, New York University, Fales Library Special Collection, New York, NY
2007
The Price of Nothing: Luxury after the Real Estate Show, EFA Gallery, New York, NY
2006
Big City Fall, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
New York’s Own, curated by Chris Daze Ellis, Fuse Gallery, New York, NY
The Downtown Show, The New York Art Scene 1974-1984, curated by Carlo McCormick, NYU Grey Art Gallery and The Fales Library, New York, NY
2005
It’s a rough world, how’s your armor?, thebody.com
2004
21, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
East Village USA, curated by Dan Cameron, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
2003
Charlie Ahearn: Artists, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Look Up! Contemplating the Skies, curated by Thomas Woodruff, New York Academy of Sciences, New York, NY
Commodification of Buddhism, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
2002
Social Landscape, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Subject Matters: An Exhibition of Subject Driven Art, curated by Norman Dubrow, Kravitz/Wehby Gallery, New York, NY
Sex Pots: The Erotic Life of Clay, San Francisco State University Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2001
One Planet Under A Groove: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
Context: Recent Art from Cuba in the Permanent Collection, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
Humor and Rage: 5 Contemporary Painters from the United States, Fundacio Caixa Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Pollock to Today, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2000
Manhattan Contrasts, NY Historic Society, New York, NY
The Figure: Another Side of Modernism, Paintings from 1950 to the Present, curated by Lilly Wei, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island, NY
1999
Radiant Children: Art of the East Village, curated by Jonathan Weinberg and Joel Handorff, Lamia Ink!, New York, NY
1998
Conviviality & Confetti: Holiday Imagery in Art, The Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, NJ
FotoGraf, The Web Gallery, New York, NY
1997
Reflections of Taste, American Art from Greenwich Collections, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT
The Web Gallery, New York, NY
1996
Sites of Chinatown, Museum of Chinese in the Americas, New York, NY
The Usual Suspects, curated by Daze, Avanti Gallery New York, NY
Blood Fairies, curated by Frank Moore, Geoff Hendricks and Sur Rodney, Artists Space, New York, NY
Arts Communities/AIDS Communities: Realizing the Archive Project, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
Give Life to Art: The First Step, presented by Gallery (+) Positive and Visual AIDS, Fire Island Pines, NY
Our Deities, ISE Art Foundation, New York, NY
1995
Art for Education: Public Art in the School System, The Palace Hotel, New York, NY
Art at the Edge: Social Turf, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Murder, curated by John Yau, Thread Waxing Space, New York, NY
In a Different Light, University Art Museum Berkeley, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Art as Dramatic Comedy: an exhibition exploring comic traditions as defined by literature in contemporary art, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
Imperfect, Herter Art Gallery, Amherst, MA
Drawn on the Museum, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1994
New York Realism: Past and Present, curated by Doug Dreishpoon, Odakyu Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Kagoshima City Museum of Art, Japan; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art; The Museum of Art, Kintetsu, Osaka, Japan; Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL
1993
Fallen Idylls: American Figurative Painting, curated by Christopher Sweet and P·P·O·W, New York, NY
GODZILLA, The Asian American Arts Network: The New World Order III, The Curio Shop, Artists Space, New York, NY
The Martin County Council for the Arts, Stuart, FL
1992
The New American Cityscape, curated by Amy Simon, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT
Malcom X Show, curated by Jeremy Nader, City College of New York, New York, NY
Contemporary Male Nudes, Graham Modern, New York, NY
1991
Belly of the Beast, curated by Francisco Hernandez, Charles Lucien Gallery, New York, NY
Your House is Mine, project by Andrew Castrucci and Nadia Cohen, Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
The New Depressionists, curated by Lee Quinones, Kenkeleba House, New York, NY
In the Looking Glass, Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Queer Art Show, curated by Nayland Blake, New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA
Hip-Hop, curated by Anne Pasternack and Francisco Hernandez, New Art Ways, Hartford, CT
Office Installations, curated by Judy Collishan, CW Post Campus, Long Island University, New York, NY
Access, (Art and Representing the Handicapped) Islip Museum, Islip Long Island, NY
Della Cova, Anne Plumb Gallery, New York, NY
The Hybrid State, EXIT ART, New York, NY
Images of Labor: The 90s, Gallery 1199, New York, NY
1990
Benefit for “God’s Love We Deliver,” Sotheby’s New York, NY
Brick Dicks and Swastikas, with Benjamin Liepelt, CBGB’s, New York, NY
Tiananmen Memorial Show, curated by Asian American Arts Center, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong
Flaneur/Flaneuse: Out on a Stroll, Barbara Fendrick, New York, NY
Decade Show 1990, MOCHA, New York, NY
Inside the Beast, curated by Francisco Hernandez, Charles Lucien Gallery, New York, NY
Lower East Side Print Shop Retrospective, Tompkins Square Park Library, New York, NY
Your House is Mine, Bullet Space, New York, NY
Bastille Day Show, Steve Mass, New York, NY
Queer, Wessel-O’Conner Gallery, New York, NY
AIDS Time-Line, curated by Ken Chu, The Clocktower, New York, NY
Jazz and the Blues Aesthetics, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY
Brut 90, White Columns, New York, NY
1989
Interiors, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
Future Now, Bass Museum, Miami, FL
Uptown Downtown, curated by Bob Lee, City Gallery, Columbus Circle, New York, NY
Urban Images, Madison Arts Center, Madison, WI
Free Puerto Rico, Black and White in Color, Bronx, NY
The Blues Aesthetics, WPA, Washington, D.C.
Center Show, Gay and Lesbian Cultural Center, New York, NY
First Amendment Show, Sally Hawkins, New York, NY
Flag Show, Red Zone, New York, NY
Democracy, curated by Group Material, DIA Art Foundation, New York, NY
Visions of Revolution, El Castillo Cultural Center, New York, NY
China, June 4, curated by Asian American Arts Center, Blum Helman Warehouse, New York, NY
Benefit for San Salvador, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY
1988
The Social Club, EXIT ART, New York, NY
The 1980s: A New Generation, American Painters and Sculptors, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Acts of Faith, curated by Lucy Lippard, Cleveland State University, OH
Politics and Election installations by Group Material, Dia Art Foundation, New York, NY
AIDS and Democracy, installations by Group Material, Dia Art Foundation, New York, NY
100 Years of the Lower East Side, curated by Anton van Dalen, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
The Immoral Show, curated by Ron English, Tunnel, New York, NY
1987
Art of the Eighties, Karl Bornstein Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Three Jack-o-Lanterns, Halloween party, 56 Bleecker Gallery, New York, NY
Curators’ Choice, Gerstadt Gallery, New York, NY
Urban Visions, Adelphi University, Adelphi, NY
Bigger and Deffer, curated by D.D. Chapin, Seventh Avenue Space, New York, NY
Two Man Show, with Benjamin Lipalet, Milk Bar, New York, NY
Constitution, curated by Group Material, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
GNARLY-MO, curated by Steven Schwartz, Limelight, New York, NY
The Castle, an installation by Group Material, at Documenta 8, Kassel, West Germany
The Mind’s I, Part 1, Asian Arts Institute, New York, NY
Resistance, (Anti-Baudrillard) Group Material, White Columns, New York, NY
Art for Money, a benefit for Fashion Moda, Art and Industrie, New York, NY
1986
Freedom of Painting, Galerie Paradis, Paris, France
Text/Texture, curated by Peggy Cyphers, Ground Zero, New York, NY
The East Village, curated by Richard Martin, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY
Short Stories, curated by Judd Tully, One Penn Plaza, New York, NY
Eight Urban Painters, Fine Arts Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook
Strange Brew, Chronocide, New York, NY
Ten Chinatown, Asian Arts Institute, New York, NY
1985
Hard Cold Facts, curated by Rick Prol, B-Side Gallery, New York, NY
Benefit for Fashion Moda, curated by James Poppitz, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, NY
Innocence and Experience, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC; First Street Gallery, New York, NY
Photosynthesis, curated by Ellen Lubell, One Penn Plaza, New York, NY
Cross Currents, curated by Joe Stabilito, Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Audacious: Some Extremist Tendencies in East Village Art, curated by Dan Cameron,
Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
Urban Spirit, City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
East Village Art Collection, The Palladium, New York, NY
Works on Paper, Semaphore East, New York, NY
Precious, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, NY; The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
American Occult, Kamikaze, New York, NY
Tight as Spring, curated by Barry Blinderman, Kamikaze, New York, NY
Illuminations, curated by Joey Handorff, Dramatic Personae Gallery, New York, NY
Auto da Fe, curated by Steve Whitesell, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
The Monster Show, Nico Smith Gallery, New York, NY
Semaphore and Semaphore East Galleries, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, WI
East Village at Centre, Centre Sakdye Bronfman, Montreal, Quebec
1984
Urban Landscapes, Semaphore East, New York, NY
East Infection, curated by Carlo McCormick, Zero One, Los Angeles, CA
Small Works, NOW Gallery, New York, NY
New Narrative Painting, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City
Bacchanalia, New York Public Library, Tompkins Square Branch, New York, NY
New York Now, curated by Manuela Filiaci & Carlo McCormick, Nello Studio di Corrado Levi, Milan, Italy
The Acid Test, Sensory Evolution Gallery, New York, NY
Aspects of the City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Neo York, University of California at Santa Barbara, CA
Street Politics, Real Art Waves, Hartford, CT
Chill Out New York, curated by Steve L. Kaplan, Kenkeleba House, New York, NY
Conspiracies, Limbo Lounge, New York, NY
Carnival, Kamikaze, New York, NY
10th St.& Avenue B/East Village Art Today, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
Extravaganza, Dramatic Personae Gallery, New York, NY
Psychology, New York Public Library, Tompkins Square Branch, New York, NY
In My End is My Beginning, Semaphore, New York, NY
The New Portrait, curated by Jeffrey Deitch, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY
Limbo, curated by Walter Robinson and Carlo McCormick, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY
Climbing: The East Village, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
Situation, curated by Steven L. Kaplan, Bess Cutler Gallery, New York, NY
Dr. Mueller’s Theotherapy, curated by Cookie Mueller, Kamikaze, New York, NY
East Side Story, curated by Rick Prol, Cat Club, New York, NY
Martin Wong & Sharp, Limbo Lounge, New York, NY
Urban Artists, Kamikaze, New York, NY
1983
Gracie Mansion Presents, Kamikaze, New York, NY
A. More Store, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
Science Fair, Danceteria, New York, NY
Science and Prophecy, curated by Steve Whitesell and Joel Handorff, White Columns, New York, NY
Underdog, curated by Rick Prol, East 7th Street Gallery, New York, NY
Lower East Side Polygon-Part II, Danceteria, New York, NY
Contemporary Prints, Tibor de Nagy, New York, NY
Terminal New York, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Brooklyn, NY
Wish You’d Been Here, curated by Carlo McCormick, ABC No Rio, New York, NY
Resurrection, St. Mark’s Intercollegiate Church, New York, NY
1982
Group Show, 301 Houston Street Gallery, New York, NY
Crime Show, curated by John Spencer, ABC No Rio, New York, NY
Select Public Collections
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA The Art Institute of Chicago, IL Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY California State Building in San Francisco, CA Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH de Young Museum – The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA The Fales Library and Special Collections at New York University, NY Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY New York Historical Society, New York, NY San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA School, IS90M, Washington Heights, New York, NY The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Select Bibliography
2024
Gemma Rolls-Bentley. Queer Art, From Canvas to Club, and the Spaces Between. Frances Lincoln, London, UK. 2024, pp. 70.
2023
Chaffee, Cathleen. “Pushing Boundaries 1960-2020.” American Art: Selections from the Yale University Art Gallery, edited by Stacey A Wujcik, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2023, pp. 248, 266-267.
2022
Haden-Guest, Anthony. Tom Warren: The 1980s Art Scene in New York, edited by Nico Zeifang et al., Hatje Cantz Verlag GmbH & Co KG, Berlin, 2022, pp. 57-58, 84, 243, 312, 313.
Smalls, Shante Paradigm. “Wild Stylin’: Martin Wong’s Queer Visuality in New York City Graffiti.” Hip Hop Heresies: Queer Aesthetics in New York City, NYU Press, New York, NY, 2022, pp. 25–52.
2021
Ho, Christopher K. and Daisy Nam. “Best!: Letters from Asian Americans in the Arts,” Paper Monument, 2021.
2019
Weinberg, Jonathan, editor. Art After Stonewall 1969-1989, Rizzoli Electa, New York, NY, 2019, p. 256.
2018
Kwon, Junghyun, et al., editors. “Martin Wong.” East Village NY: Vulnerable and Extreme, translated by Jiwon Yu, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, 2018, pp. 218–221.
2017
Phillips, Lisa, editor. “Sweet Oblivion: The Urban Landscape of Martin Wong.” 40 Years New, New Museum/Phaidon Press, New York, NY, 2017, pp. 114–116.
Martin, Susan, Maynard Monrow, Bill Stelling, eds. “Love Among the Ruins: 56 Bleeker Gallery and Late 80’s New York,” Howl! Archive Publishing. Vol. 1, No. 19 (2017). Pg. 64, 106. Illus.: Two Skeletons (1973) and Mary-Ann (1988).
2016
Dudek, Ingrid, “I am You, You Are Too,” ArtAsiaPacific. May/June 2016. pg. 70-79. Illus.: Mikey and Little Angel (1984), I really Like the Way Firemen Smell (1988), City as a Canvas (2014), Tell My Troubles to the Eight Ball (Eureka) (1978-81), Voices (1981), My Secret World (1978-81), Brainwashing Cult Cons Top TV Star (1981), Attorney Street (Handball Court with Autobiographical Poem by Pinero) (1982-84), Sharp & Dottie (1984), Sweet ’Enuff (1987), The Annunciation According to Mikey Pinero (Cupcake and Paco) (1984), Top Cat (1990), Penitentiary Fox (1988), Reckless (1991).
Harris, Susan, and Mary Anne Staniszewski, editors. Unfinished Memories/30 Years of Exit Art, 1st ed., Steidl, 2016, p. 4, 24, 33, 42, 51, 53, 71, 92, 109, 120, 179, 190-1, 225, 256, 290, 373, 396.
2013
Catalog. Martin Wong’s Collection,” Published by Galerie Buchholz & Koenig Books.
Boucher, Brian. “Danh Vo Channels Martin Wong at the Guggenheim,” Art in America, March 15, 2013.
Bushman, M. “Danh Vo: ‘IMUUR2’ at the Guggenheim Museum through May 27th,” Artobserved.com, May 14, 2013.
Russeth, Andrew. “The Hugo Boss Prize 2012: Danh Vo ‘IMUUR2’ at the Guggenheim Museum,” Gallerist, March 19, 2013.
Smith, Roberta. “Awash in a Cultural Deluge,” New York Times, March 14, 2013.
Sutton, Benjamin. “Danh Vo’ Guggenheim Show Is a Collaboration with Deceased Artist Martin Wong,” artinfo.com, March 22, 2013.
Wong, Ryan. “Charming Stuff: Danh Vo and Martin Wong,” Hyperallergic, March 27, 2013.
2012
Catalog. “Silence,” The Menil Collection, Houston, TX.
Taiping Tianguo, A History of Possible Encounters, Artron.net, April 19.
Catalog, “Art in the Streets,” essay in “A Fable” by Carlo McCormick, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, CA.
2010
Rosenberg, Karen. “Martin Wong: Art in Review”, The New York Times, January 22, 2010.
Laster, Paul. “Martin Wong: Art Review” Time Out New York, Issue 747. January 21, 2010.
Schwendener, Martha. “Gritty, Mostly Male and White: Art Review”, The New York Times. January 14, 2010.
Monforton, Mary-Ann. “Out & About: On Bended Knee,” BOMB. January 13, 2010.
“Martin Wong: Goings on About Town,” The New Yorker, January 13, 2010.
Kley, Elisabeth. “Gotham Art and Theater,” Artnet.com, January 5, 2010.
Pollack, Barbara. “Martin Wong,” ARTnews. March 2010. Volume 109, No. 3. p. 110.
Stillman, Nick. “Martin Wong,” Artforum International, XLVIII, No. 8. April 2010. p.193.
2009
Catalog. “Everything Must Go,” from essay “Romancing the Brick,” by Carlo McCormick, P·P·O·W Gallery, NY.
2008
Catalog. “Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents 1900-1970, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (reproduction) p. 151.
Cotter, Holland. “Finding Art in the Asphalt,” The New York Times. September 12, 2008 (reproduction).
Cotter, Holland. “Side X Side,” The New York Times, July 25, 2008.
Catalog. “Idle Youth,” Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY. (reproduction) p.39.
2007
Cotter, Holland. “The Price of Nothing: Luxury after The Real Estate Show,” The New York Times, October 26, 2007.
2006
Frank 151. Book 22. cover reproduction.
Catalog. “The Downtown Book,” The New York Art Scene 1974-1984, p. 88, 183 (reproduction). Edited by Marvin J. Taylor.
2005
McCormick, Carlo. “East Village USA,” Juxtapoz, May/June. p. 58, 59 (reproduction).
2004
Catalog. “East Village USA”, New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY. (reproduction, p.31 and p.144).
Smith, Roberta. “Looking Back at the Flurry on the Far Side,” The New York Times, December 2. E35 & E37.
Williams, J. “Whitewash of mural stains school morale,” Daily News, Aug. 11.
Petry, Michael. “Hidden Histories: 20th Century Male Same Sex Lovers in The Visual Arts,” Art Media Press, 2004. Published in Great Britain.
2002
Banai, Nuit. “In the Groove,” Review of One Planet Under a Groove Exhibition. www.artnet.com
“One Planet under a groove,” Art Juxtapoz, May/June. (reproduction).
Lopez, Luciana. “Hip Hop Planet,” URB91, March. p.48 (reproduction).
Smith, Roberta. “Out of the Vociferous Planet and in the Orbit of Funk and Hip-Hop,” New York Times, January16. (reproduction).
Joo, Eungie. “Bring That Beat Back,” FYI NYFA, Spring. (reproduction).
Caramanica, Jon. “Hip-Hop Don’t Stop,” Village Voice, January 15.
McCaffery, Damien. “Under the Influence,” VIBE, January. (reproduction).
2001
Antoniou, Antonis, and Steven Heller. Decoding Manhattan, Abrams, New York, NY, 2001, p. 199, 222.
Cotter, Holland. “Retrieving Magic from the Vault” New York Times, January 5.
Hill, Joe. Review, Art in America, September. (reproduction)
Spiegel, Olga. “Cinco pintores cuestionan en la Pedrera con rabia y humor la sociedad de EE. UU,” La Vanguardia, January 30.
Molina, Angela. “La Pedrera muestra el humor y la rabia de 5 pintores norteamericanos,” ABC Cataluna, January 30.
2000
Paolini, Elaine. “Shifting Geography Captured in Cityscapes,” New York Resident, July 26 (reproduction).
Catalog, The Figure: Another Side of Modernism. Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY. June 4, 2000 – January 14, 2001.
Bruce, Jeffrey. “Red Brick and Chain Link,” The International Review of African American Art, Vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 37 – 41 (reproduction).
McCormick, Carlo. “Village Voice,” Artforum, March. pp. 22, 25.
1999
“Martin Wong,” Milestones, POZ, November. p.44 (reproduction).
Cottini, Carrie. Review, “Martin Wong at First Street,” Artweek, November.
“Portrait of the Artist: Martin Wong’s Days on North Coast Revealed in Exhibit,” Times Standard, September 17. p. C1.
Doran, Bob. “Wong: The Eureka Years,” North Coast Journal, September 2.
Zamora, Jim Herron. Obituary, San Francisco Examiner, August 22.
Anderson, David. Obituary, “Artist Wong, ‘Human Instamatic,’ Dead at 53,” Times Standard, August 19. front page.
Smith, Roberta. Obituary, “A Painter of Poetic Realism,” The New York Times, August 18.
Wong, Martin. “Martin Wong Meets Martin Wong,” Giant Robot, Summer. pp. 48-50.
The American Art Book, Phaidon, 1999. p. 496.
1998
Kuspit, Donald. “Martin Wong at the New Museum of Contemporary Art,” Art New England, December/January. p. 13.
Maniaci, Cara. NY Arts, July/August 1. p. 16.
Frankel, David. “Martin Wong,” Artforum, October. p. 117.
Schwabsky, Barry. “A City of Bricks and Ciphers,” Art in America, September. pp.100-105.
Cotter, Holland. “The Streets of a Crumbling El Dorado, Paved with Poetry and Desire,”
The New York Times, Friday, June 5. p. E35.
Featured in Simon Says, Summer. Vol. 2, Issue 10.
Porges, Tim. Dialogue, May/June. pp. 14-15.
Trebay, Guy. “The Bricklayer’s Art,” The Village Voice, May 26. p.30.
Artforum, “Preview,” May. p. 46.
1997
Cotter, Holland. “Art and AIDS the Stuff Life is Made of,” Art in America, April 1997, pp. 50 & 56 (reproductions).
1996
Zipangu, February (cover reproduction).
1991
Harrison, Helen A. “Hidden Reserves of the Handicapped,” The New York Times.
Hirsh, David. “Urban Realist Paints `Where I Live,’” Bay Area Reporter, February 14.
Hess, Elizabeth. “The Persian Gulf School,” Village Voice, February 12.
1990
Hirsh, David. “From the Lower East Side,” New York Native, October15.
Hagen, Charles. “All That Jazz,” ARTnews, February.
1989
Raven, Arlene. “Fo(u)r Freedoms,” Village Voice, October 10.
Hedegaard, Erik. “Tenements to the Stars,” Mother Jones, July/August.
Hirsh, David. “The Center Show,” New York Native, June 26.
McCormick, Carlo. Artforum, March.
Sturman, John. “Martin Wong,” ARTnews, March.
Zinsser, John. “Martin Wong at EXIT ART and Frank Bernaducci,” Art in America, March.
Mahoney, Robert. Arts, February.
Atkins, Robert. “International Art Arena,” February.
1988
Atkins, Robert. “7 Days,” December 7.
Hess, Elizabeth. “Working the Street,” Village Voice, November 29.
Urquhart, Ross. “Art Reviews,” The New Common Good, February.
1987
Talking Heads. What the Songs Look Like. New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers, 1987. pg. 40-41. Illus.: My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks)
1986
Levin, Kim. “Semaphore,” The Village Voice, October 21.
Brenson, Michael. “Semaphore,” The New York Times, Friday, October 3.
Martin, Richard. “What is Absent in Objects: The New Painting of Martin Wong,” Arts, October.
Lewis, Joe. “The Vanishing Neighborhood,” East Village Eye, April.
Cameron, Dan. “Image and Authority: The Recent Painting of Martin Wong,” Arts, January.
O’Brien Glenn. “Semaphore East,” Artforum, January.
1985
Rosenblatt, Roger. “A Christmas Story,” TIME Magazine. Illustrated by Martin Wong. December 30, 1985. pg. 18-30.
Haggerty, Gerald. “Semaphore East,” The New York Times, Friday, October 25.
Raynor, Vivien. “Semaphore East,” The New York Times, Friday, October 25.
Deitch, Jeffrey and Kuspit, Donald. “Critics’ Picks,” Avenue, May.
Mittelmark, Howard. “Loony at the Top,” Art & Antiques, January.
Urquhart, Ross. “Resisting the Insular Art World,” The New Common Good, January.
1984
Tajima, Marsha. “Poet of Decay,” Bridge, Vol. 9, No. 3/4.
O’Brien, Glenn. “Semaphore East,” Artforum, December.
Hoffman, Randi. “Big Painting Disappears Without a Trace,” The Uptown Dispatch, November 22.
Wolff, Theodore F. “Views of the City that Inspire and Graffiti that Do Not,” Christian Science Monitor, November 27.
Henry, Gerrit. “Semaphore,” Art in America, November.
Ramirez-Harwood, Yasmin. “Writing in the Sky: An Interview with Martin Wong,” East Village Eye, October.
Indiana, Gary. “The ‘Private’ Collector: An Interview with Norman Dubrow,” Village Voice, October 23.
Mucahy, Susan. “Deep in the Art of the East Village,” New York Post, October 22.
Olstrom, Mary Ann. ”‘Priceless’ Art Irks Dealer,” New York Magazine, October 15.
Somaini, Luisa. “Le pezzie de ‘post’ arrivano sui Navigli-Ecco l’arte del `East Village,’” La Repubblica, October 6.
Cotter, Holland. “Martin Wong,” Arts, September.
Robinson, Walter and McCormick, Carlo. “Slouching Toward Avenue D,” Art in America, Summer.
Kuspit, Donald. “Climbing,” Artforum, April.
Mueller, Cookie. “Small Works,” Details, Match.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art Nueva Pintura Narrative: Coleccion del Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 1984.
1983
Raynor, Vivien. “Climbing: The East Village,” The New York Times, January 27.
Select Books and Catalogs
2023
Madey, Candice, et al. Luxe, Calme, Volupté. SJ Weiler Press; Candice Madey New York, 2023. Illus. pp 73, 86, 91.
Ferguson, Russell. “Bohemia: History of an Idea 1950-2000,” Kunsthalle Praha. Prague, Czech Republic, 2023. Illus. pp. 115.
2022
Gruijthuijsen, Krist and Agustin Pérez Rubio, editors. “Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief,” Verlag der Buchhandlung, 2022.
2021
“City as Studio,” Hong Kong, K11 Art Foundation, 2021.
2020
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “A Time of Crisis,” New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2020. Illus. pp. 12-13.
2019
Columbus Museum of Art. “Art After Stonewall,” New York, NY: Rizzoli, 2019. Illus. pp. 265.
2017
The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art’s, Innovative Approaches Honored Traditions. Clinton, NY: Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, 2017. Pg. 240-241Illus.: Untitled (Time) (1983).
Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei. “Spectrosynthesis: Asian LGBT Issues and Art Now,” Taipei, TW: Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (2017). Illus. pp. 100 -103.
2015
The Bronx Museum of Art. “The Human Instamatic,” London, UK: Black Dog Publishing Limited, 2015.
Burkhart, Caitlin and Julian Myers-Szupinska, eds. “My Trip to America by Martin Wong,” Oakland, CA: California College of the Arts, 2015.
Para Site. “Taiping Tianguo: A History of Impossible Encounters,” Berlin, GE: Sternberg Press, 2015.
2013
Wong, Martin. “I.M.U.U.R. 2.,” Edited by Julie Ault. Photos by Danh Vo and Heinz Peter Knes. Berlin, GE: Konig, 2013.
Museum of the City of New York. “City as a Canvas: New York City Graffiti: The Martin Wong Collection,” New York, NY: Skira Rizzoli Publication, 2013.
2012
The Menil Collection. “Silence,” Catalogue. Houston, TX: The Menil Collection, 2012.
Charles B. Benenson Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery. “Eye on a Century,” Catalogue. New Haven, CT: Charles B. Benenson Collection, 2012.
2009
McCormick, Carlo. “Everything Must Go,” Catalog. New York, NY: PPOW. 2009.
2008
Chang, Gordon H., et al. “Asian American Art: A History,” 1850-1970. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008. P. 260, 261, 543-455.
2006
Taylor, Marvin J. ed. “The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene, 1974-1984,” Grey Art Gallery. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006.
2004
Johnson, Mark Dean. “Martin Wong’s Utopia: A Peaceful Life and Heavenly Place,” San Francisco, CA: Chinese Historical Society of America, 2004.
Ault, Julie and Dan Cameron. “East Village USA,” New York, NY: New Museum Publications, 2004.
2003
Kim, Elaine H. “Fresh Talk/Daring Gaze: Conversations on Asian American Art,” Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003.
Arnason, H.H. “History of Modern Art,” 5th ed. London, UK: Pearson Publishing, 2003. Pg. 712-713.
2001
Fundacio Caixa Catalunya. “L’Humor I La Rabia: Humor and Rage, Five Contemporary Painters from the United States,” Barcelona, ES: Fundacio Caxia Catalunya, 2001.
Dixon, Jenny. “One Planet Under a Groove: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art,” Bronx, NY: Bronx Museum of the Arts, 2001.
Anderson, Maxwell L. “Whitney: American Visionaries – Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art,” New York, NY: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2001.
2000
Georgia, Olivia, Lilly Wei, Alexi Worth, and John Yau. “The Figure: Another Side of Modernism,” Staten Island, NY: Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 2000.
1998
Scholder, Amy, ed. “Sweet Oblivion: The Urban Landscape of Martin Wong,” New York, NY: Rizzoli Press, 1998.
Abrams, Harry N. “The Art of the State of California,” 1998.
1995
Yau, John. “Murder,” Los Angeles, CA: Smart Art Press, 1995.
1993
N.Y City Council President Andrew Stein and the Chinese American Art Council, An All-Salute to Chinese American Cultural Pioneers, New York, New York: N.Y City Council and Chinese American Art Council, 1993.
1990
Lippard, Lucy R. “Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America,” New York, NY: The New Press, 1990.
Conwill, Kinshasha, Nilda Peraza, and Marcia Tucker, “The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980’s,” New York, NY: New Museum of Contemporary Art/Studio Museum in Harlem, 1990.
1988
EXIT Art, “Martin Wong.” Catalogue. Essay by John Yau. New York, NY: Exit Art, 1988.
1986
MacGuire, William J. “Art Aid.” Catalogue. New York, 1986.
Fine Arts Center Gallery, State University of New York at Stony Brook, “Eight Urban Artists,” Stony Brook, NY: SUNY Stony Brook Press, 1986.
1985
El Bohio Contemporary Art Auction Benefit. El Bohio, New York. 1985.
Styron, Tommy. “Innocence and Experience: Exhibition and Catalogue,” Greenville, SC: Greenville County Museum of Art, 1985.
1984
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva Pintura Narrative: Coleccion del Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984.
Blinderman, Barry. “Thomas Lawson, and Susan Morgan, Contemporary Perspectives, Nineteen Eighty-Four,” Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1984.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Notable Acquisitions, 1984-1985. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984.
1977
Ross, John. “Eureka,” Illustrated by Martin Wong. 1977.