Matthew Wong | Vincent van Gogh: Painting as a Last Resort

1 March - 1 September 2024 

@Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam 

Matthew Wong, Coming of Age Landscape, 2018, Private Collection, Courtesy of HomeArt. © Matthew Wong Foundation c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2023

Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with a Reaper, 1889, Van Gogh Museum

프랑스에서 정신병원에서 열정적으로 그리다 37세로 요절한 아웃사이더 빈센트 반 고흐(1853-1890), 정신질환에 시달리며 반 고흐에게서 자신의 모습을 보고 그림을 그리다가 35세에 자살한 중국계 캐나다 화가 매튜 왕(Matthew Wong, 王俊傑, 1984-2019). 회화가 마지막 안식처였던 두 화가의 컬러풀한 작품을 비교해볼 수 있는 듀오전 'Matthew Wong | Vincent van Gogh: Painting as a Last Resort'이 3월 1일부터 9월 1일까지 암스테르담 반고흐뮤지엄에서 열린다. 

매튜 왕은 1984년 토론토에서 태어나 미시간대 문화인류학과 졸업 후 홍콩대에서 사진으로 석사학위를 받았다. 미술은 뮤지엄과 도서관을 다니며 독학으로 공부했다. 2015년 홍콩 비주얼아트센터에서 첫 개인전을 연 후 2018년 뉴욕의 카르마(Karma)에서 첫 미국 데뷔전을 열었다. 뉴욕타임스의 비평가 2019년 카르마에서 열린 그의 유고전 'Blue'에 대해 로버타 스미스는 "그 세대에 가장 재능있는 화가 중 한명"이라고 평했다. 

1천여점을 남긴 매튜 왕은 투레트 신드롬(Tourette syndrome: 반복적으로 눈을 깜박이거나, 어깨를 으쓱하거나, 이상한 소리나 모욕적인 말을 불쑥 내뱉는 등 쉽게 제어할 수 없는 반복적인 행동과 관련된 장애)과 우울증에 시달린 것으로 알려졌다. 2020년 10월 크리스티에서 '샹그리-라(Shangri-La, 2017)'가 447만 달러에 팔렸다. 2022년 달라스 뮤지엄(Dallas Museum of Art)에선 회고전 'Matthew Wong: The Realm of Appearances'이 열렸다.  

*크리스티, 소더비 1백-4백만달러 경매... 요절 화가 매튜 왕의 세계, 2020

https://www.nyculturebeat.com/index.php?mid=Art2&document_srl=3941387

Matthew Wong | Vincent van Gogh: Painting as a Last Resort

1 March - 1 September 2024 

@Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam 

This spring, discover the exuberant, colourful and mystical work of Matthew Wong at the Van Gogh Museum. This is the first time that Wong’s highly personal oeuvre will be on display in Europe in an exhibition of this size.

The retrospective exhibition Matthew Wong | Vincent van Gogh: Painting as a Last Resort shows the artist’s unique work, well-known and highly regarded throughout the world, in the context of his artistic and personal connection with Van Gogh, whom he saw as one of his most significant sources of inspiration.

Matthew Wong, The Space Between Trees, 2019/ Vincent van Gogh, The Painter on the Road to Tarascon, 1888

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/02/21/kindred-spirits-van-gogh-and-matthew-wong-come-together-in-amsterdam-show

The style of the Chinese-Canadian artist Matthew Wong (1984-2019) can best be described as dynamic, colourful and expressive. His lush landscapes exude melancholy. After studying photography, Wong quickly taught himself to paint and was inspired by both European-American and Chinese painting and drawing. Owing to his rapid development, Wong changed painting styles with striking frequency. During short periods, he looked to the works of various artists, including Klimt and Matisse.

It was, however, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)who played a major role throughout Wong’s entire eight-year career as an artist. In a 2018 interview, Wong named Van Gogh as one of his most important sources of inspiration. Van Gogh’s influence is unmistakable, in terms of use of colour, the thickly applied brushwork and the personal themes in Wong’s work.

Loneliness, isolation and melancholy marked Wong’s life, and are subjects that were channelled through his work. The artist Jonas Wood, another significant example for Wong and a close friend of the artist, even called Wong ‘the modern day Van Gogh’.

Throughout his life, Wong identified not only with Van Gogh’s art, but also his life story. ‘I see myself in him. The impossibility of belonging in this world’, said Wong in 2018. Both artists had a lengthy search to find their calling in life, which they ultimately found in painting. Wong saw it as his ‘last resort’.

Both Wong and Van Gogh struggled with mental health problems, which resulted in both artists ‘tragic, untimely deaths. Unlike Van Gogh, Wong’s talent was more widely recognised during his short and tempestuous career. Barely five years after he made his first work, a renowned museum acquired a painting by Wong, and many notable collectors followed suit. In 2019, The New York Times lauded him as ‘one of the most talented painters of his generation’.

Joost van der Hoeven, curator of the exhibition:

‘I see a sincerity, a conviction and total commitment in Wong’s work that you also see with Van Gogh. They are unparalleled in their ability to combine emotional depth with a highly accessible visual language. When I saw Wong’s work for the first time, it gripped me instantly, and I saw in it a whole range of art historical references. And yet it remains completely original and contemporary. I am fascinated by this tension between recognition and originality, and that is what inspired me to make this exhibition’.

The exhibition shows the highly personal and emotionally charged oeuvre of Matthew Wong, and illuminates his connection to Van Gogh.

Matthew Wong | Vincent van Gogh: Painting as a Last Resort is the first retrospective of Wong’s work in Europe, and is on display at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from 1 March to 1 September 2024. Tickets for the museum can be booked in advance on the Van Gogh Museum website.

https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en