Martin Wong – Malicious Mischief

Spanning the breadth of his practice, Camden Art Centre presents Martin Wong – Malicous Mischief, an exhibition highlighting paintings, drawings and ceramic sculpture, as well as presenting video footage of the artist at work in his studio. This is the first solo exhibition of Wong's work in a UK institution. Martin Wong’s practice draws on and merges various visual languages, including Chinese iconography, portraiture, landscape, urban poetry, graffiti and sign language. Recognised for his depictions of social, sexual, and political scenographies in the United States from 1970s to 1990s, he weaves together narratives of queer existence, marginal communities, and urban gentrification.

Installation views of Martin Wong, Malicious Mischief, at Camden Art Centre 2023. Photography by Rob Harris.

Martin Wong – Malicious Mischief is presented in thematic rooms, guided by Wong’s own artistic biography, including Wong’s multi-layered universe as seen through his early paintings, poems and sculptures made in the euphoric 1960s and early 1970s environments of San Francisco and Eureka, California, where he grew up as the only son of American-born Chinese parents; his iconic 1980s and 1990s paintings of a dilapidated New York City, made during his time on the Lower East Side; as well as his reminiscences on the imagery of the East and West Coast Chinatowns.

Installation views of Martin Wong, Malicious Mischief, at Camden Art Centre 2023. Photography by Rob Harris.

Martin Wong – Malicious Mischief is made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art with the generous support of The Martin Wong Foundation, P.P.O.W, New York, KAWS, and Galerie Buchholz. The presentation at Camden Art Centre is also generously supported by Arts Council England, by our Lead Donors and by Members of our Martin Wong Exhibition Circle. The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive publication, co-published with Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König and funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the German Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media. The exhibition is curated by Krist Gruijthuijsen and Agustín Pérez Rubio and produced in London by Camden Art Centre.

Martin Wong – Malicious Mischief is open at Camden Art Centre until 17th September.