It's not me

If you're looking for the Martin Wong Painting and Drawing Studio 2007, go no further than the Herberger College of the Arts at Arizona State University. But I have nothing to do with it. It was named in honor of the late San Francisco artist, whose foundation was run by his late father and ASU alum, Benjamin Wong Fie, and his mom Florence Wong Fie.


I met the artist and his parents and they were awesome. Not only did I spend the entire afternoon with them at their home near SFSU, but when his friend Gary showed up later on, all of us out for Chinese food. You can read the article in GR15 (Summer 1999).


Wong's art was a colorful and cool mix of San Francisco's Chinatown and New York City rubble (circa early '80s), inspired by graffiti and gay theater and populated by kissing firemen, clones of Bruce Lee, and severed hands doing sign language. His work was high end and museum quality, but very accessible. He was a predecessor to a lot of what is considered "outsider art" these days.


Martin passed away from AIDS later that year, and his dad followed. But Florence is going strong and even corresponds with me now and then--usually to let me know about the latest work by the Martin Wong Foundation. It's an uplifting end to a story that could have been tragic--she helped to raise a talented and creative son only to lose him, but carries on his legacy through scholarships for art students. (The foundation also benefits students at NYU, Wong's second home.)

I think it's time to write a letter back to her.