Picnics & Parties
Parties and Picnics is about the escapist pleasures of consumption and intoxication. It depicts the ‘artificial paradise’, to quote the Decadent poet Baudelaire, of alcohol, cigarettes, food, and companionship, but also that of clashing patterns, lurid colours, and iridescent hues. The decorative becomes ‘drunk’, the ornamental detail dissolves into frenetic daubs, and artifice blends decadently with sensuality. Building up layers over several months, Wong works oil paint, oil pastel, and fluorescent pigments with brushes and her hands, combining hazy, fizzy scribbles with more lush, exuberant passages of paint. She cites Intimist painter Bonnard as a key influence, an artist who worked slowly and tactilely to ‘recover the savour of things’ — to relish a singular moment, extracting the magical and sensorial from the banal. Ultimately, in an age of decisiveness and efficiency, Wong opts for a protracted, indulgent process that favours an aesthetic of luxuriance and excess.
Untitled, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 71 x 100 x 1.9cm, 2024
Party slump, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas 160 x 100 x 4cm, 2023
Picnics and Parties (solo), Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024
Party scene, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 80 x 1.9cm, 2024
Picnics and Parties (solo), Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024
Alone party, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 91 x 122 x 1.9cm, 2023
Pub party, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 91 x 122 x 1.9cm, 2023
Date night, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 45.5 x 60.5 x 1.9cm, 2023
Picnics and Parties (solo), Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024
Picnics and Parties (solo), Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024
Confetti and canapés, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 80 x 100 x 3.5cm, 2023
Summer/Autumn luncheon (after Tissot), oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 180 x 190 x 3 cm, 2023
After party, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 140 x 170 x 3.5cm, 2023
Picnics and Parties (solo), Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024
Slumber party, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 152 x 122 x 1.9cm, 2023
Tangerine picnic, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 152 x 122 x 1.9cm, 2023
Picnics and Parties (solo), Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024
Siesta, oil, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas, 97 x 60 x 1.9cm, 2023
Picnics and Parties (solo), Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024
Picnics and Parties (solo), Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024
Picnics and Parties (solo), Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024