Johnny Wong is a Hong Kong-born artist who lives in New York City. He was raised in California and studied motion graphics for feature film, which initiated his attraction to the interplay among history, culture, and society. Over time, Wong also became fascinated by the pointillist technique of Seurat and Signac and the role time plays in the creation of an art work.
Wong explores the relationship between individuals and the reflection and celebration of time with humor, irony, and imagination. His work is about the march of time and how the line as a design element can represent the trajectory of a life. In his work, you will see lines intersect (and not intersect), representing how we cross paths with others, share a moment, share years, and then move on.
“Responding to marks made by gravity and chance, the geometric abstraction reflects the electricity of social interaction living in Manhattan.
The movement of traffic, rhythms of each soul, blinking electric lights.
This survey of new works is about the march of time and how the line as a design element can represent the trajectory of a life. Washes of transparent and translucent color, the consistency and ingenuity of the straight line traveling from edge to edge. Like Mondrian, whose geometric composition exemplify an ideal of harmony and calm. The pattern and colors are the reflection and celebration of time. In 2015, I began using watercolor pencils on basswood panels which became my principal medium for this series. I start by applying a stencil of the laserlike lines on the perfect smoothness of the basswood panel. The coloring of different hues on wood comes in over forty colors in each work. Each color actively engages the viewer like looking through a kaleidoscope of a stained glass window. This series Divine Misdirection is my interpretation of the controlled chaos of Mondrian, Signac and my work in today.”
JW, 2021JW@zero44.com (646) 961-3784 West Village, New York City