Paul Wong: Private/Public/Lives
Paul Wong, 2018
New Delhi, Kolkata & Mumbai; India
Mother’s Cupboard: Red Lid Jars, 2018
Inkjet art print
24 x 36 inches
Mother’s Cupboard: Three Miracle Whip Jars, 2018
Inkjet art print
24 x 36 inches
Mother’s Cupboard: Miracle Whip Jar: Het Aah Dew (iron hit rubbing alchol), 2018
Archival inkjet print
24 x 36 inches
Mother’s Cupboard: Aylmer Jars, 2018
Inkjet art print
24 x 36 inches
Mother’s Cupboard: Two Classico Jars, 2018
Inkjet art print
24 x 36 inches
Mother’s Cupboard: Six Taster’s choice, 2018
Jars Inkjet art print
24 x 36 inches
Father’s Words: 1964 August 24, 2018
Archival inkjet print
34 x 44 inches
Father’s Words: 1973 June 22, 2018
Archival inkjet print
34 x 44 inches
Father’s Words: 1971 December 29, 2018
Archival inkjet print
34 x 44 inches
Mother’s Cupboard: Nalley Sweet Green Relish Jar 1 & 2 Archival, 2018
inkjet print
24 x 36 inches each
Five Octave Range, 2017
Four-channel video installation
Non synced loops, sound
Year of GIF, 2013
Video mapping projection
5-minutes loop, no sound
‘Paul Wong: Private/Public/Lives’ is part of Prameya Art Foundation (PRAF) Participatory, an initiative that tries to explore collaborative art making as pedagogy. Paul Wong, the Canadian multimedia artist and activist has been invited to India to conduct a workshop and make work together with a group of young artists at Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology. The exhibition ‘Paul Wong: Private/Public/Lives’ is a preview to this project, and to introduce Paul Wong to the community of students and young artists in Delhi. He has been creating daring work for over 40 years, pushing the boundaries of conventional cultural stereotypes and art. He has produced largescale interdisciplinary artworks in traditional galleries and unexpected public spaces since the 1970s. His work subverts stereotypes in form, language, content, and context. This exhibition of three recent works exemplifies Paul’s multifaceted artistic process. All these works have been initiatives of public art projects, accessibly bringing in the public and community within the conversation by taking what is typically concealed in private spaces out into the public to start a conversation around it. Five Octave Range (2017), commissioned by Vancouver Opera, and Year of GIF (2013), commissioned by Surrey Art Gallery, showcases Paul’s large-scale site-specific installation video work that has made him a pioneer in that field. His current project, 身在唐人街 / Occupying Chinatown (2018/19), commissioned by City of Vancouver’s explores Paul’s relationship to identity, heritage, and language. 媽媽的藥櫃/Mother’s Cupboard and 父字/Father’s Words allows viewers intimate insight into Chinese diaspora practices within a Canadian colonial context. The project at Srishti Institute of Art and design will be an extension of this project in the Indian context.
PRAF Participatory is an initiative to commission art projects from invited international artists that are developed with the participation of local art students. As part of its intend to supplement conventional pedagogical methods in art schools, this initiative is intended to facilitate engagement with internationally renowned artists, by immersing young artists in the making of a collaborative work of art that expands their understanding of their own practice. PRAF Participatory Programme is designed to encourage increased conversation between India and the global art scene. While residency programmes have become increasingly relevant to the arts in India with annual residency programmes that support Indian artists and curators in other countries to develop their practices there aren’t as many opportunities that focus on visits by prominent global figures to India with the sole purpose of continued dialogue with a broader segment of the local arts community. PRAF intends to bridge that gap by facilitating engagement for emerging artists with global figures within India. For the year 2018, PRAF is proud to invite the Chinese Canadian multimedia artist Paul Wong to exhibit some of his key works in Delhi and share his working process with the local audience through a conversation with the performance-based artist Amitesh Grover. Thereafter, Wong will continue his India tour by participating in Srishti Interim 2018, a program launched by our partner, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology (Bengaluru) that gives an opportunity to young art students to interact with and learn from established international artists whilst working on collaborative art projects with them.
