Adrian Wong: Reading Room Revisited

September 25 - December 31, 2020


Adrian Wong’s installations, videos, and sculptures draw from varied subjects and explore the intricacies of his relationship to his environment (experientially, historically, culturally, and through the filter of fantastical or fictionalized narratives). These organic and open-ended artifacts of his process often involve a collaborative engagement with subjects.

As a graduate student in psychology at Stanford, Wong studied non-linguistic and extra-linguistic cognition, an interest that persisted into his sculptural investigations at Yale where his ideas developed visually and formally. In his broad-ranging practice, this interest led him to adopt this deeply collaborative approach – dependent upon language yet gravitating towards spaces where communication pushes the limits of the speech act. This has manifested in his work with among others, a years-long engagement with telepathic animal communicators.

Adrian Wong’s collaborative art-making practice examines authorship by exploring the depths of the mind’s eye through the lives of animals current and past. Through the act of collaboration, the artist is inextricably connected to both the process and the object. The conceptual nature of this process allows for a myriad of creative possibilities with each party contributing a dynamic function. The product, or visual record of the process, represents a totemic object wrapped in the energies contributed by all.

 

Wong was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois in 1980. Originally trained in psychology (MA Stanford, 2003), he began making and exhibiting work in San Francisco while concurrently performing research in developmental linguistics. He continued his post-graduate studies in sculpture (MFA Yale, 2005). Wong relocated his studio to Hong Kong in 2005, but recently returned to Chicago, where he currently teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been exhibited at The Drawing Center (New York), Kuandu Museum (Taipei), Kunsthalle Wien, Kunstmuseum Bern, Kunstverein (Hamburg), Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul), Palazzo Reale (Milan), Saatchi Gallery (London), and Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art (Rotterdam)-and can be found in public and private collections worldwide, including the 21C Collection (Chicago), DSL Foundation Collection (Paris), K11 Art Foundation (Shanghai), Kadist Foundation (San Francisco), M+ Museum (Hong Kong), Sifang Museum (Nanjing), and the Uli Sigg Collection (Lucerne).

Artwork

Adrian Wong
Snoopy ca. 1992

2020
Digital print on paper
36 x 60 inches
Edition of 5 +1AP
AW-000039

Adrian Wong
Omar 2017

2020
Digital print on paper, framed
36 x 48 inches
Edition of 5 +1AP
AW-000038

Adrian Wong
The House that Snoopy Built

2019
Plywood, PVC, foam, tubing, carpet
105 x 96 x 36 inches


Adrian Wong
The House That Snoopy Built Annotated Sketch

2019
Enamel on panel
66 x 48 x 3 inches


Adrian Wong
A Very Old Soul

2019
Print on polyester
192 x 48 inches
Edition of 5

Adrian Wong
Telepathically Designed Bespoke Rabbit Warren No. 2

2015
Powder-coated steel, plywood, glass, cork, artificial turf
30 x 60 x 60 inches

Adrian Wong
Designed Bespoke Rabbit Warren No. 2 Annotated Schematics

2019
Enamel on panel
41 x 58 x 3 in

Adrian Wong
Past Life Portrait (Lion)

2020
Acrylic on canvas. framed
36 x 36 inches
AW-000020

Adrian Wong
Past Life Portrait (Rabbit)

2020
Acrylic on canvas. framed
24 x 36 inches
AW-000019

Adrian Wong
Past Life Portrait (Pig)

2020
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 24 inches, framed
AW-000015

Sold

Adrian Wong
Past Life Portrait (Horse)

2020
Acrylic on canvas. framed
40 x 30 inches
AW-000016

Adrian Wong
Past Life Portrait (Zebra)

2020
Acrylic on canvas. framed
30 x 40 inches
AW-000021

Adrian Wong
Past Life Portrait (Cheetah)

2020
Acrylic on canvas. framed
36 x 36 inches
AW-000022

Adrian Wong
Past Life Portrait (Dog)

2020
Acrylic on canvas. framed
36 x 24 inches
AW-000017

Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 17 (Stag/Tree)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
16 X 13 x 3 inches

Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 11 (Greg & Martha/Autumn Cascade)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
16 X 13 x 3 inches

Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 8 (Kitten/Jay)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
13 x 16 x 3 inches


Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 9 (Professor Barkley/Sunset)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
13 x 16 x 3 inches


Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 10 (Wild Horses/Regular Horses)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
13 x 16 x 3 inches


Sold

Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 12 (Roar/Meow)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
13 x 16 x 3 inches

Sold

Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 13 (Eight Cats/Two Cats)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
13 x 16 x 3 inches

Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 15 (Interspecies Friendship/Auburn Foliage)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
13 x 16 x 3 inches

Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 16 (Dutch Splits/Tulip Field)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
13 x 16 x 3 inches

Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 14 (Cataract/Butterflies)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
13 x 16 x 3 inches

Sold

Adrian Wong
LENTICULAR COMPOSITION no. 7 (Princess/Waterfall)

2020
Found lenticulars, walnut, Masonite, enamel
16 x 13 x 3 inches

Sold

Adrian Wong
The Violet Ray vers. 2

2020
Neon, glass, wood
48 x 48 x 8 inches

Adrian Wong
The Green Room

2020
Wood, paint, PVC, lace and pillow
36 x 69 x 3 inches