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The back of a Martin Wong painting unlocks the history of graffiti art | HOW TO SEE
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
- This short documentary tells the unknown story of how the back of this painting got covered in graffiti. Before Martin Wong's painting "Houston Street" became part of our collection, rumors circulated about another artwork on its back. When our team replaced the stretcher, they had a chance to study a hidden piece that hadn’t been seen in over 40 years. We invited graffiti artist Sharp (Aaron Goodstone) to the conservation lab to see the painting for the first time since it was shown in 1983. He and filmmaker Charlie Ahearn (Wild Style) share their personal memories of Wong, the impact of his friendship and art, and this intense period in downtown New York. Conversations with conservators, photographs and research discoveries from Wong’s archives, and Ahearn’s video footage of Wong painting in his cramped apartment studio unearth lost paintings and the hidden and moving story of Wong’s “Houston Street.”
The artist Martin Wong bridged the graffiti art, poetry, and gallery scenes; his drawings and paintings depict the streets and characters around him on the Lower East Side of New York City, where he moved in 1978. It was a period of creative liberation but also financial struggle and the rise of the AIDS epidemic. Wong was a magnetic figure on the underground scene: openly gay, generous, and wildly creative. Whenever he sold work, he put the money back into supporting other artists, building an enormous graffiti art collection (what he called “aerosol hieroglyphics”), which he showcased in his short-lived Museum of American Graffiti. “We might see his work in the same kind of constellation as Keith Haring or Jean-Michel Basquiat -- art that was often both for and about public space, the street,” explains curator Michelle Kuo.
Wong’s “Houston Street,” 1986 is a major work. At eight by thirteen feet and hung to touch the ground, it forms an eerie trompe l'oeil double of the rolling gates that secure shops at night along the block that it is named for. When the painting recently entered MoMA’s collection, its stretcher had to be replaced and conservators and curators had a chance to study something they only had an inkling of: a painting on the back. In 1983, Wong painted the thirteen-foot length of the back of the canvas in his signature brick-by-brick, and then asked his friends, graffiti artists Sharp and Delta 2, to spray paint over it, tagging it like a real wall. At the bottom, he signed it as a collaborative work by all three artists, making explicit his passion for supporting graffiti art, as under-recognized as it was then and still to this day. “Even if it's not totally intentional,” Kuo says, “the idea that you would look at the front of the painting, this blocked metal wall, and then this secret on the other side is this whole other universe.”
00:00-01:21 Introducing Martin Wong
01:21-2:28 "Houston Street" 1986 in conservation
2:28-3:46 Discovering the back of the painting
3:46-5:20 Graffiti artist Sharp's history
5:20-7:08 Martin Wong in the downtown art world
7:08-8:13 The Museum of American Graffiti
8:13-9:07 Missing paintings
9:07-10:40 Martin Wong's studio apartment
10:40-11:50 Discoveries in the archives
11:50-13:20 Martin Wong's death
13:20-13:42 Stretching the painting
13:42-15:12 Martin Wong's legacy
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The comments and opinions expressed in this video are those of the speaker alone, and do not represent the views of The Museum of Modern Art, its personnel, or any artist.
Image credit correction: Patti Astor and Futura 2000 at the Art & BBQ Party, 1981 © Anita Rosenberg
#martinwong #graffiti #graffitiart #newyorkhistory #lowereastside #artdocumentary #documentary #queerartist #art #museumofmodernart #moma #museum #modernart
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Sharps words are why we need preservation and modern documentation of graffiti more than ever. This is the art we need.
Would have been super dope if they displayed it in a way where we can see both sides of the canvas !
this is a rare video that displays what art is really about. it's about life.
This was absolutely beautiful. Thank you for creating work to help people remember artists who died of AIDS. This horrible disease robbed us of so many brilliant, wonderful people.
Omg,yes. So many wonderful artists of all genre's gone..including several dear friends of mine.Forever in my heart.💔Thank you for bringing attention to AIDS,still with us.🙏🙏🙏
Was a great piece
"the secret on the other side is a whole other universe" ... Thanks so much for showing us that other universe and some of the people who inhabited it.
its really touching to me that his friend would rather have martins picture put on the canvas, than the one they did together. i mean it must also be a memory that he has of their frienship. so giving that memory up, to keep martins vision alive is really great to me
It’s because he knows graffiti is a very temporary art. Sometimes you’ll go out and paint something amazing and it’ll be covered up with a gray patch of paint before you come back the next day to get a picture.
its time for institutions to stop discriminating painters which came from the graffiti scene , and show them in museums as the ones who studied art.
Stunning. Stunning artwork, stunning story, stunning surprise, and stunning humans at work 🥲
I can't really explain how beautiful this video is to me. It ties together so many aspects of my life that I treasure - being Asian-American, growing up in nyc fixated on art and hip hop, being an unapologetic fetishist of the the city as it was in my youth...I'm in awe of this piece, and will revisit and share it often
This is the best story I've watched on TH-cam this year. Just wonderful.
It’s amazing how the last painting literally teleports you to that lost period of time, so undervalued in its ability to act as “historian”.
The quote/mission statement he made regarding his museum summarizes the painting in written form imo. Remarkable frfr
I've been painting for 15 years, im 30 now. And the feeling i get when i see videos like this is so much happiness and sadness at the same time. I got at 14 yr old and a 1 yr old. I hope that one day they realize how much love i got for them and this art forum, and I pray they dont forget me or resent me for it. 💔
These videos are extraordinary! Thank you for this moment in time!
watching this makes me feel like humans are special. unlike watching the news or most everyday life. true artist and original. thank you all involved for making this short doc.
There was a beautiful exhibition of Wong's work in Amsterdam last year. I was really touched by him. Very distinct stages in his paintings. All beautiful.
This is amazing. I had never heard of Martin Wong, and I'm really glad this popped up on my feed. The early hip hop/graffiti scene is such a great part of American art history to me.
Such an amazing artist. Thanks, I loved this.
It’s another level when your tools become pieces of art themselves. Love this 🙏🏼
I know Martin is surely up there in his art studio in the sky painting masterpieces like he did in his time on Earth! Martin Wong is a legend of NY graffiti! This video truly honored him as an artist and as a person!It is so amazing Sharp shared some words about Martin! Much love and kudos to Martin Wong!! May he RIP❤🔥
Such a beautiful documentary!
One of the best little artists bio I ve seen. Love these, guess i can relate . Art 4 life
Great works, great artist and a great story beautifully presented. Congratulations all around.
What an incredible artist! Thank you so much for sharing. You’ve unlocked a new gem 💎 for so many upcoming artists.
Thank you for this really enjoyed it.
Wow, beautiful footage and very inspiring artist.
Amazing piece.
Thank you ☮❤🙏
R.I.P. Martin Wong
🕯🙏
Incredible video.
Incredible artists.
This is art history in modern America.
Thank you for sharing with us.
Big ups SHARP
i love Martin Wong
so exited to see this!!
Gave me shivers. I just learned about Wong recently. Beautiful. To paint a corrugated door like that, like a master.
These guys are incredible artists, in a much broad sense of art, beyond the market, the institutions. Thanks for telling us this art chapter, great documentary!
Thanks MoMA. Very moving.
you're welcome hector
This is so awesome!!
Truly beautiful.
Great stuff!
Amazing journalism.
The paintbrushes are incredible. Absolutely awesome documentary. Thank you.
INCREDIBLE. SO INSPIRING. RIP legend
Wonderful !!!
Incredible!
Beautiful 💛
This was wonderful thank you
😮Love this 👍🏻👍🏻super interesting!
Amazing. Thanks for the info
Brilliant!
I wasn't aware of Martin Wong or his art until seeing this, thank you for introducing me to him!
Incredible video... Thanks MOMA
This is wild!
This made me smile
Great work everyone..
Amazing!
Inspiring ❤
beautiful nyc story. great artist thank you
I'm am absolutely mesmerised by this what an amazing insight in a really awesome guy
Lovely!!!
A absolutely wonderful documentary. Brilliant
Martin was such a nice guy and he had a vast knowledge of art history.
Very dope indeed!
Love this
Mind blowing
briliant!
I've never heard of him but wow, some immense work
Never seen so many people cheer for graffiti in a comment section before, weird how that happens..
Respect to Martin Wong for seeing the beauty in graffiti and understanding it to implement it into his own art. I feel like the fact the focus wasnt on the graffiti side of the piece for years truly shows how society looks at graffiti. It's a culture and lifestyle that truly risks their life and jailtime to put their art out on societies grey walls.
just wonderful
A lot of us who were young teenagers were heavily influenced by the OG’s just ahead of us no matter what city you grew up in. This is a very nice tribute to Mr. Wong. So nice to see his work being preserved
Thank you Martin 🫶🏼
So cool
Thanks.
thank you.
I loved this so much, and I'd like to think he didn't just paint on the back of it absentmindedly as Sharp suggested... that it was an "unemotional decision". I actually have no idea, but seeing how detailed and full of imagery all of his other work was in the video and how thoughtful he seems, to paint something as plain shutters with no tags or paintings on them feels significant.
Graffiti will always be painted over again and again in the world, and a good spot will be painted on countless times and covered up continuously with new art. It's crazy the idea of just painting over good art, destroying and creating something beautiful at the same time, and by painting an inviting place to paint graffiti with no tag on it, it feels like he created a celebration of all that art that is lost, including the piece on the back of this canvas. It's like he created something for all street artists that will always live on when graffiti itself will always disappear... the perfect canvas, and sacrificing a piece he felt love for I feel like would have to be be part of that.
God bless you Sharp. Still having his paintbrushes after all time shows how much you cared about him too
Remarkable
Excellent history of a very special artist in time and space. I wonder if it would be possible to mount the work so it could be seen from both sides(?).
i was wondering the same
Great stuff ... Martin Wong, SHARP DELTA2 Art. The combination of the two are a vision of the past brought back to life in the future..
Sharp & delta 2 are 2 different people so technically, the combo of 3….
Great video. Is the MoMA displaying both sides of the piece in their gallery?
Very funny to hear Houston said like that... great piece though, thanks. Fascinating dude.
world class content
As a straight white man, I appreciated this short documentary of a life I never knew about until now. What a beautiful style and vision
Amazing
Thanks, gonna bust out my copy of Subway Art and flip through it while watching Style Wars for the umpteenth time.
Why not display it so both sides are visible??
This what I thought too.
someone has those 2 other pieces.... i hope they are found. this was awesome! when i was a budding journalist in the late 90s, i was a part of a new scene in art where graffiti was again being showcased. some of my first interviews were with futura and stash and lee was there, too, but he was so modest and quiet. and they were prob laughing at this petite girl talking to them about graffiti. this old new york graff scene is so so amazing. i hope more comes out about all of these artists.
Damn this was a cool video
Great video ! What's going to happen to the Aerosol Art Masterpiece that was also with thr metal gate that reads sharp and delta2 ? Is the museum going to print that on Canvas and exhibit it with Credits to both Aerosol Artists as well .
great stuff/real nyc
I don’t know why they didn’t display it as a double sided canvas. Sharp n Delta are historical artist in their own right. Imagining finding a painting you’d lost 40 years ago when you were a teenager Classic . They’re both apart of the Newyork landscape n heritage . Sharp came to our highschool 85-86 n showed his trains he’d painted he even showed us trains from Italy or Spain he’d painted on. He said he was the first! Also with his cool Graff portfolio!!! Westchester high Los Angeles, Calif.
KING
I loved the term aerosol hieroglyphs.
Is the piece displayed in a way where a viewer can see both sides of the canvas?
Martin knew what he was doing, it is so fitting for a piece of graffiti to be on the back side of a painting of a roll down gate. A roll down gate goes with graffiti like butter on bread, it just makes sense. Sure, maybe he did need a canvas to paint this gate on but I have to imagine he had some intention behind choosing that specific canvas with Sharp's piece on it. Interesting too that Sharp's piece is intentionally dissed by Delta2.
I think the painting was intentional where the metal sliding gate with the small opening a peak and opening that sort of reminder of what was behind it. It could have easily been just the metal gate but he valued the other piece and wanted to make sure it still had air to breathe beyond the new piece and one day be rediscovered. Great story great artist, painters and graffiti artist alike ❤
So was the other side covered up again by the wooden stretcher?
i really want to learn more about all those artists esp martin now
Should of hung the canvas so you can see it both sides but wow such a cool thing to come across 🔥🔥🔥💥💥💥
Over on IG, you state that Wong asked "graffiti artists Sharp and Delta 2, to spray paint over it, tagging it like a real wall." Were you not able to engage Delta 2 and bring his perspective to the conversation?
I like how she explains a roll up garage door
RIP MARTIN WONG and respect for Sharp. One of the best graffiti writer ever. Big up from Milano, italy.
One the" Angels in America " that made it happen. (movie ref). Native Ny'er from those days. miss it. Should have embrace it more. Lost forever.
We can stand in front of this door and look at it just like Martin did. With a sense of familiar and sadness, too, maybe. For knowing temporary...
Feels like Francis Bacon, pretty cool. I bet they hung out back in the day.
It's a shame this piece couldn't be displayed to have both sides visible...
I thought for sure this video would end with a display of the painting so both sides are visible (thinking the back side would be partially visible in between the support structures...)
i was a friend of Martin......i saw him last at the Metropolitan Muse. the day before I left NY to move to Hawaii....he was a guard there....they had hired him so that he would have medical coverage for his AIDS......very sad....but he was still smiling and joking about the job ....