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Celebrating Wesley Tongson’s artwork in Hong Kong, from disciplined to raw and visceral

Wesley Tongson’s ink masterpieces, at Asia Society Hong Kong until October 11, explore how the artist’s work evolved throughout his life

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Hong Kong artist Wesley Tongson’s paintings are displayed at “Singing and Dancing with Brush and Ink: The Art of Wesley Tongson”, an exhibition at the Asia Society Hong Kong’s Chantal Miller Gallery, which runs until October 11. It is the first major exhibition of his work at a leading local institution since the early 2010s. Photo: Chloe Loung
Chloe Loung

More than a decade after his death, Hong Kong artist Wesley Tongson is being celebrated with a comprehensive survey of his experimental ink paintings at the Asia Society.

Titled “Singing and Dancing with Brush and Ink: The Art of Wesley Tongson”, it marks the first major exhibition of his work at a leading local institution since the early 2010s.

With nearly 30 works on loan from major Hong Kong museums, including M+ and the Hong Kong Museum of Art, as well as private collections and the Wesley Tongson Charitable Trust, the exhibition’s five sections explore Tongson’s distinctive style as it evolved alongside – and was shaped by – deeply personal conflicts and reflections.
His work is intensely intimate, reflecting his struggles with schizophrenia, his deep spirituality – he practised Zen Buddhism but was also influenced by Christianity and Taoism – and a fluid gender identity, says Cynthia Tongson, the late artist’s sister and director of the Wesley Tongson Charitable Trust.

“He painted for himself. He’s all for himself, and that’s why all the work is not about any statement or anything. It’s his own expression,” she says.

“His painting comes from the middle voice, a spiritual void. He always wanted to transcend himself from within to a higher level of consciousness.”

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