The Chicago Tribune reviews "Martin Wong: Chinatown USA," the first-ever exhibition dedicated to the late painter Martin Wong in Chicago, on view at Wrightwood 659. The show features Wong's impasto paintings of tenements in the Lower East Side and San Francisco's Chinatown, along with memorabilia and a collection of graffiti art he assembled in the 1980s. It opens with early ceramics and a video portrait by Charlie Ahearn, setting the tone for Wong's oeuvre.
This exhibition matters because it fills a significant gap in Chicago's art scene—Wong, who died in 1999 at age 53 from AIDS, has never been the subject of a local solo show, and his works are scarce in Chicago collections (the MCA has none, and the Art Institute's piece is off view). The show introduces Wong's passionate, tender depictions of urban life and his role as a collector of graffiti art, offering a long-overdue opportunity for Chicago audiences to engage with his legacy.