Al Wong

{{Infobox person

| name = Al Wong

| image = Al Wong-Head Shot.jpg

| image_upright =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1939}}

| birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater = Academy of Art University,
San Francisco Art Institute

| occupation = artist, fine art professor

| years_active = 1968-Present

| known_for = Experimental filmmaking, mixed media installation art

| website = https://alwongart.com/

}}

Al Wong (born 1939) is an American artist and educator, known for his experimental film and mixed media installation art.{{Cite web|title=Artist Results, Al Wong|url=http://kiosk.sfartscommission.org/artist-maker/info/684?sort=3|access-date=2020-11-29|website=San Francisco Arts Commission}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eeRPAAAAMAAJ|title=The Visual Artists Awards: Flintridge Foundation, 1997/98|date=1998|publisher=Flintridge Foundation|isbn=978-0-9664721-0-3|pages=43|language=en}} He is based in San Francisco, California.{{Cite web|last=Zimbardo|first=Tanya|date=May 3, 2013|title=Sunlight and Shadows: Al Wong in Conversation|url=https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2013/05/al-wong/|access-date=2020-11-29|website=SFMOMA Open Space, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art|language=en-US}}

Biography

Al Wong was born in 1939 in San Francisco, California to father Willie Wong. He attended San Francisco Academy of Art University from 1960 until 1962 and the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), from 1962 until 1968 and again in 1970 until 1971. He received a Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1972 from SFAI.{{Cite book|last=Walley|first=Jonathan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NTjpDwAAQBAJ|title=Cinema Expanded: Avant-Garde Film in the Age of Intermedia|date=2020|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-093863-5|pages=381|language=en}} He also studied with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi at the San Francisco Zen Center.{{Cite book|last=Chang|first=Gordon H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFEkAQAAMAAJ|title=Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970|date=2008|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-5751-5|pages=424|language=en}}

He taught classes at San Francisco Art Institute from 1975 until 2003, as well working as a lecturer at California State University, Sacramento from 1975 until 1977; and as an associate professor at Sonoma State University.

Wong started making films around 1965, with his first film screening in 1967 at the Expo 67 in Montreal, Canada. Wong's work was included in the, Other Sources: An American Essay (1976) multidisciplinary, multiethnic exhibition curated by Carlos Villa.{{Cite web|last=Johnson|first=Mark|date=September 11, 2013|title=1976 and Its Legacy: Other Sources: An American Essay at San Francisco Art Institute|url=http://www.artpractical.com/feature/other-sources/|access-date=November 28, 2020|website=Art Practical}} In addition to filmmaking and film installation art, Wong also has created works on paper, light installations and photo installations.

Wong was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in Film (1986),{{Cite web|title=Fellows: Al Wong|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/al-wong/|access-date=2020-11-29|website=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation|language=en-US}} and the Flintridge Foundation grant (1998).{{Cite web|last=Bonetti|first=David|date=1998-08-17|title=Grants for Bay artists, museums|url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Grants-for-Bay-artists-museums-3075095.php|access-date=2020-11-29|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}} In 2023, he also participated in the second Chinatown Contemporary Arts Festival in which he showed his film Paper Sisters.{{Cite web |date=2023-09-27 |title=Buzzy Chinatown Contemporary Arts Fest Returns for 2nd Year to San Francisco |url=https://sfstandard.com/2023/09/27/san-francisco-chinatown-contemporary-arts-festival-under-the-same-sun/ |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=The San Francisco Standard |language=en}} He was inspired to make this film based on his experiences growing up under the Chinese Exclusion Act and named the film to allude to the "reduction of human beings to pieces of paper containing their immigration status."

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable"

!Year

!Title

!Type

!Length

!Notes

1969

|69 Cents a Pound

|16mm film, black-and-white, sound

|12 minutes

|{{Cite web |date=August 19, 2022 |title=Canyon Cinema: New Acquisition: Three Exhibition Files from Al Wong |url=https://canyoncinema.com/2022/08/19/new-acquisition-three-exhibition-files-from-al-wong/ |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=Canyon Cinema |language=en}}

1970

|Tea for Two

|16mm film, black-and-white, sound

|5 minutes

|In the collection of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

1971

|Discount House

|16mm film, color, sound

|21 minutes

|In the collection of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

1974

|Moving Still

|16mm film, black-and-white, sound

|14 minutes

|In the collection of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

1975

|Working Class

|16mm film, black-and-white, sound

|14.5 minutes

|In the collection of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.{{Cite web |date=February 11, 2022 |title=Canyon Cinema : New Artist Member: Al Wong |url=https://canyoncinema.com/2022/02/11/new-artist-member-al-wong/ |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=Canyon Cinema |language=en}}

1975

|Same Difference

|16mm film, color, sound

|17.5 minutes

|The soundtrack is by Terry Fox. Same Difference was filmed in a kitchen window over the span of a years time.

1976

|Corner

|double 16mm film projection on wall corner, black-and-white, silent

|16 minutes

1977

|24 F.P.S.

|16mm film, color, sound

|14 minutes

|{{Cite web|title=24 f.p.s.|url=https://cinefiles.bampfa.berkeley.edu/catalog/24fps1418668913433|access-date=2020-11-29|website=CineFiles, Berkeley Art Museum and Film Archive (BAMFA), University of California, Berkeley|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Al Wong|url=https://www.alternativeprojections.com/people/al-wong/|access-date=2020-11-29|website=Alternative Projections}}

1977

|Twin Peaks

|16mm transferred to video, sound

|50 minutes

|This film was featured in solo viewings at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) and Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).{{Cite web|date=May 7, 2013|title=Al Wong: Twin Peaks at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco|url=https://www.sfstation.com/al-wong-twin-peaks-e1902781|access-date=2020-11-29|website=SF Station|language=en}}

1979

|Shadow and Chair

|16mm film installation, black-and-white, silent

|10.5 minutes

1980

|Moon Stand

|16mm film installation, black-white, sound

|14 minutes

1981

|Philip Whalen

|16mm film installation, black-and-white, sound

|8 minutes