Paul Wong: On Becoming a Man

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, Japan Foundation Fellow 1991-92, and the author of
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Home and As Though Life Mattered:
Leo Kennedy’s Story.

This National Gallery of Canada catalogue for the Paul Wong exhibition
held late in 1995 covers 20 years of the artist’s works and active
involvement in the Vancouver arts community.

In her foreword, NGC Director Shirley Thomson notes that Wong’s
multimedia works trace the search of a young Canadian of Chinese
extraction for personal and social identity: “The artist’s works
testify to complexities and contradictions of a sort experienced by many
young Canadians, and delineate a long journey with numerous fluctuations
between rejection and acceptance, sadness and euphoria, until finally an
equilibrium is attained.”

There are two thematic clusters, one deriving from popular culture and
contemporary trends in music, fashion, and lifestyle, the other from
ethnic origins. The works, in the view of one editor, “are rooted in
and nourished by such diverse sources as performance, body art, punk
counter culture, and the documentary.” Paradox is a major element in
Wong’s art.

The catalogue features many small photos and video stills, some in
color but most in black and white. Though it is difficult for such
photos to do justice to the mixed-media three-dimensional installations,
video-tapes, and performances, this unusual catalogue will surprise and
challenge viewers.