Wesley Tongson
The retrospective at the Asia Society of Wesley Tongson’s work, Singing and Dancing with Brush and Ink, has offered the public the possibility of seeing some of this too-little-known artist’s impressively varied and consistently high-quality paintings. Born in Hong Kong in 1957, Tongson began studying ink when he was 17 and kept developing his approach to the medium throughout his life, while pursuing his studies in Hong Kong and Toronto. He went from more academic pieces, often inspired by masters from the Chinese canon, to a much more tactile and physical relationship with ink and its possibilities. He produced, in his later years, paintings made entirely without a brush, instead using his own fingers, nails and hands – turning ink into a tactile, nearly sculptural element. While his approach to hand-painting was pretty unconventional, there are precedents in ink art, like the Qing dynasty painter Gao Qipei (1660-1734), who was likely known to Tongson. The show is curated by Julia M White and Yi Yi Mon (Rosaline) Kyo, with crucial input from Tongson’s sister, Cynthia …
