As I turned the corner to exit the Museum of Fine Arts and a burst of vibrant color caught the corner of my eye, I knew I needed to find out more about the work of Matthew Wong.
“Matthew Wong: The Realm of Appearances” opened at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) on July 1, 2023 and closes Feb. 14, 2024. The exhibit spans the brief but brilliant artistic career of contemporary artist Mathew Wong. The New York Times referred to Wong as “one of the most talented painters of his generation,” and after only a few minutes in this gallery, I whole-heartedly agree.
Though I am a known critic of contemporary art, an indescribable feeling of awe washed over me as I walked around the gallery. Wong’s work was striking in color and dripping with texture. Each piece was impactful, whether viewed up close and personal or from miles away.
His artistic style is unlike any I’ve previously encountered. It’s almost a mix of fauvism (a style of vivid expressionism), pointillism and a touch of magic. Every piece has variation in brush stroke, and I could see influences from some of the greatest impressionist works of our time. It’s almost as though Wong had added his own modern swirl to the work of Gustav Klimt and Henri Matisse. The exhibit is expertly named, as each painting truly feels like stepping into an otherworldly realm from his imagination.
The exhibit begins with two monochromatic scenes: a bright orange piece alongside a midnight blue scene. This subtle nod to understanding color theory and the duality of those hues was both an impressive and eye-catching way to introduce his work.
Though his artistic career was only six years long, his style progression is seen through the semi-chronological arrangement of his paintings. As I wandered through the exhibit, I saw how his pieces digressed from themes of human interaction like his 2017 “Mother and Child”—an intimate maternal portrayal, and became more about the unseen essence of humanity. One of his more recent pieces, “Tracks in the Blue Forest,” is a winter woodland scene with the slightest tail of snow boot foot-prints. This subtle detail invites mystery and is part of what makes his pieces so special.
Wong’s work also reflects his mental health challenges throughout his life. There is a palpable atmosphere of melancholy and isolation in many of his paintings. One of his pieces, “A Walk by the Sea,” is a simple tri-color landscape with seemingly-confident brush strokes. From a distance, this is merely a pleasant sunset, but as I drew closer, I saw the tiny silhouette of two people walking along the horizon. I love how the scale of this piece and his other work illustrate feelings of solitude against the backdrop of magnificent landscapes. It reminds the viewer that in the grand scheme of the universe, we are very small. This eerie feeling he conveys both comes as a comfort but also can be a tad depressing at times.
Despite the darker themes of loneliness in many of his works, there is also a jubilant playfulness to many of his other pieces. Whether it’s the colorful palettes he uses or the lasting imprint of dried paint that evokes this feeling of joy, it’s there just the same. Wong’s experimentation and passionate painting style potentially derive from being a self-taught artist, but also further convinces me of his genius.
I have few critiques for this exhibit. I would have appreciated more content about Wong’s inspirations and personal experiences to elevate the exhibit and humanize the name on the wall. Wong was also a self-taught artist, and I would have liked to see more of his early experimental work to understand his artistic evolution better. However, I still feel Wong’s powerful work speaks for itself in its emotional depth.
Wong’s exhibit has led me to turn over a new expressively painted leaf regarding my attitude towards contemporary art, and I am grateful I got a glimpse of Wong’s world.
