Martin Wong's 'Human Instamatic' Exhibition at Bronx Museum Reveals Urban Realist's Legacy
The Bronx Museum of the Arts showcased 'Martin Wong: Human Instamatic' from November 4, 2015, to February 14, 2016, featuring 96 artworks by Martin Wong (1946-1999). Situated at 1040 Grand Concourse, the exhibition highlighted life in New York's Lower East Side before gentrification. Wong's pieces illustrated tenements, prison environments, and tender interactions among gay men, characterized by a somber color scheme. His work often included text in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language, exemplified in pieces like 'Psychiatrists Testify: Demon Dogs Drive Man to Murder' (1980) and 'Courtroom Shocker/Jimmy the Weasil Sings Like a Canary' (1983). A graffiti enthusiast, Wong held his inaugural solo show in 1984 and produced significant works such as 'Heaven' (1988).
Key facts
- Martin Wong's exhibition 'Human Instamatic' ran from November 4, 2015 to February 14, 2016 at the Bronx Museum of the Arts
- The show included 96 paintings, many large-scale, focusing on New York's urban life and pre-gentrified Lower East Side
- Wong used a dark palette of earth reds, burnt Siennas, ochers, and umbers influenced by his ceramics training
- He frequently incorporated text in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language into his artworks
- Wong was born in 1946 in San Francisco near Chinatown and studied ceramics at Humboldt State University
- He moved to Manhattan in 1978 and had his first solo exhibition in 1984
- Wong was a graffiti collector, with his collection displayed at the Museum of the City of New York in 2014
- His work avoided theoretical art movements like postmodernism, instead offering direct depictions of contemporary urban scenes
Entities
Artists
- Martin Wong
- David Carrier
- Baudelaire
- Mikey Piñero
- Sharp
- Jimmy Fratianno
Institutions
- Bronx Museum of the Arts
- Museum of the City of New York
- Humboldt State University
- artcritical
Locations
- Bronx
- New York
- United States
- San Francisco
- California
- Manhattan
- Chinatown
- Paris
- France
- 1040 Grand Concourse