Daily Art History, Matthew Wong's Evocative Work

Today I'll be introducing you to "A Dream", an oil painting by Matthew Wong. This piece was first shown in his solo exhibition "Blue", held by Karma shortly after he committed suicide in 2019.

First though, I'll tell you a little about Matthew and give you a great quote of his to consider.

Wong was a self-taught artist who used resources like FaceBook and YouTube to learn. In his brief career(6-8 years), he created an expanse of work that continues to live on past him. He was known to devote each and every day to painting, sunup to sundown. I and many others, consider him a true master of his craft .

His work often seems to reference the oeuvres of many past artists, including Matisse, Van Gogh, Vuillard, Seurat, Doig, Hockney, and more. Sometimes, Matthew's work seems like a conglomeration and combination of all art leading up to it.

While long, here is a particularly wonderful quote from him in response to the question "What are you having the most trouble resolving?"

M.W- "I guess the thing I am having the biggest difficulty resolving right now is whether to work in a manner where I strive to make pleasing, beautiful images that other people can like and accept easily, therefore giving the impression that I am a "good" painter, whatever that means, and making that an end in itself, or to also be able to accept the parts of my creativity that occasionally yield up ugly, difficult pictures and seeing where those take me. I am still young and it is natural I suppose for someone at my age to want to be heard and understood in the world, to be liked and respected. But many of the painters I admire seem to have moved beyond this, and are able to really paint out of themselves without the need to impress in particular."

I just love that. As an artist myself, it seems like truth spoken into the void.

Now let's get onto the painting in question today- "A Dream"

Because Matthew committed suicide, it's sometimes hard to look at his last paintings (like this one) through anything but a melancholic lens. I mean what type of mental state was he in when he produced this painting? I wouldn't guess a good one. At the same time, his last works seem a beautiful contemplation on how wondrous our Earth is. "A Dream" is no different. It's absolutely shining.

Below, I'll be mostly focused on the latter.

Tens of different blues fill the piece, weaving cooly in and out of each other. Pointillist trees rise from the ground, grass and shrubs overgrown. How do you get to such a place?

Well, there is a path laid out for you, perfectly smooth and ready to be walked. A "yellow brick road" of sorts.

Let your eyes wander up, and take in a creamy yellow ochre sky. The sun is a blinding white, reminiscent of summer days- and so is a glittering reflection that you could fixate on forever.

A single wave crashes onshore. No one's swimming though. There's just a watcher, and that watcher stands back, painting what he sees.

Pink beach? A field of wildflowers? Who knows...

By now you might be asking, where is the melancholy?

Well, eventually everything pictured will be swallowed in heat death. Or perhaps razed down in nuclear warfare. Why does this place look so pristine after all? Where are the humans?

This is the intrinsic moral demonstrated in all Matthew Wong paintings- nothing lasts forever, least of all such glorious landscapes- the ones only found in dreams.

If you'd like to know more biographical info on Matthew Wong, click here