Martin Wong, the High Priest of Lowbrow, Lives On at P·P·O·W and Wrightwood 659
‘Chinatown USA’ and ‘Popeye’ open this weekend in Chicago and New York.
Summary
- Wrightwood 659 in Chicago is opening Chinatown USA by the late Chinese-American artist Martin Wong
- New York’s P·P·O·W Gallery is concurrently presenting Popeye, focused on Wong’s fascination for comic books and tattoo imagery
The late Martin Wong never got to visit China, he never spoke the language. Like many Asian Americans, his understanding of motherland was puzzled through fragments of stateside exports. Yet place, evidenced by his storied graffiti collection and street-forward oeuvre at large, remained central to him, and nowhere more so than Chinatowns.
Wrightwood 659 and P·P·O·W Gallery are teaming up to present partner exhibitions dedicated to legendary Chinese-American artist. Between Chinatown USA in Chicago and New York’s Popeye, the shows brings more untrodden aspects of Wong’s work into clear focus, taking shape as visual biographies of the artist and his ardent eye towards both East-meets-West and subcultural imagery.
Wong first revealed his Chinatown works in a now historic 1993 show at P·P·O·W. The exhibition at Wrightwood 659, titled Chinatown USA, is a direct callback to that moment, gathering over 100 paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs across two floors of the Tadao Ando-designed museum.
Curated by Yasufumi Nakamori and Ashley Janke, the showcase brings us onto the streets of Chinatowns, imagined both as a personal and mystical space for the artists. Ornate dragons soar beside Peking Opera performers. Mom-and-pop shops, pagoda-roofed buildings and grandiose parades are figured in psychedelic delights. Wong thought of his view of Chinatown was that of an outsider, and his paintings lean into the exoticism.
Courtesy Of The Martin Wong Foundation And P·p·o·w, New York
Courtesy Of The Martin Wong Foundation And P·p·o·w, New York
Courtesy Of The Martin Wong Foundation And P·p·o·w, New York
Courtesy Of The Martin Wong Foundation And P·p·o·w, New York
Courtesy Of The Martin Wong Foundation And P·p·o·w, New York
Courtesy Of The Martin Wong Foundation And P·p·o·w, New York
Courtesy Of The Martin Wong Foundation And P·p·o·w, New York
Meanwhile, in New York, P·P·O·W Gallery is staging Popeye, which explores the artist’s fascination with comic book and tattoo subcultures. Curated by Mark Dean Johnson and Anneliis Beadnell, this show is animated by massive cutouts of the titular sailor in his signature allover brick façade patterning, reuniting eight major sculptures from his final decade. Channeling the sensual and comedic in equal measure, the exhibition, as the gallery describes, “[highlights] an under explored throughline in Wong’s output that is equally indebted to lowbrow comix as it is to the highbrow associations of Asian and European art histories.”
Chinatown USA is now on view at Wrightwood 659 in Chicago through July 18, while P.P.O.W.’s Popeye opens on April 18 and will remain open through May 30.
