Sweet Oblivion. The Urban Landscape of Martin Wong
New York: New Museum Books/Rizzoli, 1998. 1st Edition. Quarto, publisher's stiff illustrated paper wraps, french flaps.
Catalog published in conjunction with an exhibition of work by queer Chinese-American painter Martin Wong held at the New Museum and the University Galleries at Illinois State University in 1998. Raised in San Francisco, Wong moved to the Lower East Side in the 1970s, where he supported himself working at the gift shop in the Met. In the early 80s, he began showing his work downtown while becoming a part of the New York graffiti scene and the Nuyorican Poets Café, frequently collaborating with Miguel Piñero. The paintings he produced during this period up to the time of his death in 1999 are revered for celebrating gay identity and multiethnic ethnic community in his distinct style inspired by street art and Latin American culture. Organized one year before Wong’s death from AIDS-related complications, "Sweet Oblivion" was the first museum retrospective of his work, showcasing forty-eight paintings produced between 1980 and 1996. Edited by art writer and critic Amy Scholder, with essays by co-curators Dan Cameron and Barry Blinderman, New Museum director Marcia Tucker, Carlo McCormick, Lydia Yee, and Yasmin Ramirez. Illustrated with color plates; with a checklist, chronology, and bibliography. Some toning and soiling to wraps. Very good. Uncommon. Item #7026
$250.00