CHINESE CULTURE CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO

750 KEARNY ST 3RD FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108

T : 415.986.1822 F: 415.986.2825 WWW.C-C-C.ORG

ADRIAN WONG PRESS COVERAGE

Orange Peel, Harbor Seal, Hyperreal 5/12-8/25

Orange Peel, Harbor Seal, Hyperreal

Artist Adrian Wong excavates the parallels between the

architecture and design of San Franciscos Chinatown and 1970s
Hong Kong in a solo exhibition at the Chinese Culture Center
May 12-August 25, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO This spring, the Chinese Culture Center (CCC) of San Francisco
continues its annual Xian Rui (fresh and sharp) exhibition series with Orange Peel,
Harbor Seal, Hyperreal, the first solo exhibition in the Bay Area of the work of criticallyacclaimed American artist Adrian Wong. The six new sculptural works, created
specifically for the exhibition, excavate the similarities and parallels between the present
architecture and design of San Franciscos Chinatown and that of Hong Kong circa 1970.
Wong, also selected as one of 31 international artists to participate in the Asian Art
Museums concurrent Phantoms of Asia contemporary art exhibition (May 18 September
2), relies heavily on a research-based method to explore the intricacies of his relationship to
his environment -- experientially, historically, culturally, and through the filter of
fantastical or fictionalized narratives.
Wong made three separate trips to San Francisco in preparation for the exhibition at the
CCC, spending countless hours wandering the streets of Chinatown. Based part time in
Hong Kong, he was struck by the closely related, but distinct sense of nostalgia that asserts
itself visually in both places.
While the Cultural Revolution raged in China in the 1960s and 1970s, British-ruled Hong
Kong experienced a vibrant and often idiosyncratic commingling of western psychedelic
and traditional Chinese design cultures. References to Taoist cosmology in decorative motifs
and staid patterns were suddenly re-presented in colorful abstractions of their original ceremonial
counterparts. This now iconic heyday of design, made mythic during the Golden Age of
Hong Kong cinema, was burned into the collective consciousness of not only the Chinese
Diaspora but also of the world at large as representative of the exotic East.
Across Hong Kong, the products of this period became ubiquitous and remain distinctive to this
daythough most have fallen into disrepair. Carrying the markers of decades of use, they
nevertheless continue to catch the eye, making appearances in unexpected places: in alleyways,
beneath layers of dust in Chinese medical dispensaries, well-worn countertops in local eateries,
and in piles of detritus generated by the unending urban renewal projects initiated by the tourism
board.

2070
2012512825


Chinese Culture Center -
CCCXian Rui --fresh and sharp--
(Orange Peel, Harbor Seal,
Hyperreal) (Adrian Wong)
20
70

51892(Phantoms of Asia)
31


CCC

206070

2070


1950

103

55

16
4

CCCFresharp
2008

20082009O
20102011

20125121-
4104
750 (750 Kearny St., San Francisco.
)www.c-c-c.org415-986-
1822

20125117100
www.c-c-c.org

2012Fresharp(Grants for the Arts)(San
Francisco Arts Commission)


(Adrian Wong)
(Adrian
Wong)19802003
2005

2005Embassy
Projects
2008

(Troglodyte See the Light)(A Passion for Creation for

the Louis Vuitton Fondation pour la Cration)

(Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen) (Bangkok Experimental Film

Festival) (LOOP Media Art Center) (Kunsthalle Wien)


(Chinese Culture Center) 1973 (Chinese
Culture Foundation of San Francisco)

1981
(Xian Rui - Fresharp)
JPGNina
Sazevich415752-2483nina911@pacbell.net

Artist:

Artwork Price List

No.

Thumbnail

Title (in English)

Year of
artwork

2012

36 x 48 x 4

carpet, carpet
padding,
poplar, steel

Untitled (Carpet I)

2012

2012

Untitled (Grate III / IV :

Golden Electrical
Company / Sheng Kung
Hui Kei Yan Primary
School)

$20,000.00

36 x 120 x 4

$20,000.00

60 x 60 x 5

$15,000.00

60 x 60 x 5

$15,000.00

steel, enamel

2012

36 x 120 x 4

carpet, carpet
padding,
poplar, steel

Untitled (Carpet II)

$17,500.00

On loan from
36 x 48 x 4 the artist

2012

Dimension
(in inch) Sale price

ceramic and
glass mosaic
tile, poplar,
steel

Untitled (Wall V)

Untitled (Grate I / II :
Shan Mei Playground /
Grand Fortune
Mansion)
6

Medium

ceramic and
glass mosaic
tile, poplar,
steel

Untitled (Wall IV)

Adrian Wong

steel, enamel

2012

Sold

Untitled (Wall II, detail)

Untitled (Wall II)

Untitled (Wall III)

Untitled(Grate I/II)

OVER: PAGE 2
CHINESE CULTURE CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO
750 KEARNY ST 3RD FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108
T : 415.986.1822 F: 415.986.2825 WWW.C-C-C.ORG

PRESS COVERAGE LIST

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mosaic tied building facades to the kitschy chandeliers in stores and restaurants. Chinatown, Wong says,
looks like a living, though distorted, simulacrum of 1970s Hong Kong.
In addition to the six works for the show, Wong is transforming the walls of the Chinese Culture Centers
gallery, cladding them in brick and tile and then breaking those down, to give the space an aged Hong
Kong ambience. The show runs Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., through Aug. 25 at Chinese
Culture Center, 750 Kearny St., third floor (inside the Hilton Hotel). Wong also has been selected as one
of 31 interational artists to participate in the Asian At
Museums Phantoms of Asia contemporary art exhibition, which opens Friday. Like his works for the
Chinese Culture Center, the sculptures on view at the Asian Art Museum explore the intricacies of Wongs
relationship to his environment, some play with the precepts of feng shui, using ceremonial objects from
the museumss collection.