Bohill Wong; 'outsider' artist (great)
Hyfler/Rosner
His art:
http://www.vsarts.org/prebuilt/showcase/gallery/exhibits/merge/wong1.html
http://www.berenberggallery.com/artists/wong/wong.html
By Theresa Sanchez, Globe Staff | September 16, 2004
Bohill Wong of West Roxbury, a mentally disabled artist
whose depictions of snakes in high heels and other sassy
out-of-the-ordinary scenarios drew national attention and a
fervid local following, died Sept. 10 at Caritas Carney
Hospital in Dorchester of pneumonia. He was 70.
Mr. Wong, who had the mental capacity of a fifth-grader,
worked for 24 years at Gateway Arts in Brookline Village,
run by the private nonprofit Vinfen Corp. and specializing
in ''outside art" created by artists without formal
training. Mr. Wong was the first to have a single-artist
show of drawings, paintings, and crafts at Gateway, in 1994.
''Bohill was Mr. Gateway as far as I am concerned," said his
brother Richard of East Falmouth. ''I am very proud of him.
He was a great guy -- very proud and independent. Art was
something he enjoyed the most and was praised for. He always
felt like number one."
Born in Hong Kong in 1934, Mr. Wong was raised by relatives
before moving to the United States when he was 34. After
living for several years with his mother, the late Rose Oie
SooHoo, he entered a nursing home in Roxbury. While there,
he drew on any scrap of paper he could find. He was
discovered there in 1979 by Gateway Arts.
''Bohill processes life through visual art," painter Stephen
DeFronzo said in a 1994 Boston Globe article on Mr. Wong.
''That's what makes him an artist. When he first came to
this country from Hong Kong in the '50s, everything in
advertising and popular art had become anthropomorphized. I
think that's where it came from. I'm sure he did not draw
fruits with legs in Hong Kong."
Mr. Wong flourished at Gateway Arts. The subjects of his
drawings and watercolors were daffy and whimsical, often
involving inanimate objects dressed for a night on the town.
Ducks in evening dresses, as well as vegetables dancing,
were familiar fare for Mr. Wong. Chinese landscapes also
appeared in his paintings.
He also created sculptures and designed art for a variety of
objects, from mugs and T-shirts to furniture. His work sold
well at Gateway's shop, where 60 percent of the sale price
goes to the artist and 40 percent goes to buy supplies and
materials for the shop.
''He was someone who had a humorous, witty, and sensitive
interpretation of the world and shared it with everyone,"
said Mona Thaler, marketing and public relations director at
Gateway Arts. ''His life may have had its challenges, but he
made you feel glad to know him. He had this incredibly
powerful way of communicating that through his art. Who
knows what inspires anyone, but he had some special spirit
that he was born with."
Mr. Wong's work has been shown widely, at the Berenberg
Gallery in Boston, the Fuller Museum of Art in Brockton, and
the Very Special Arts Gallery in Washington, D.C. In New
York, his work has been shown at the Cavin Morris Gallery,
the Outsider Art Fair, the Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center,
and the Margaret Bodell Gallery. A biography of Mr. Wong,
produced by Marty Ostrow on WGBH's Greater Boston Arts, won
a New England Emmy in 1997.
''Like any beloved, well-known artist, he will be remembered
through his work," said Rae Edelson, director of Gateway
Arts. ''We celebrate his life, his wit, his incredible
spirit, and his 24-year career at Gateway. As Bohill would
say, 'You too wonderful. I do the right thing.' We say that
of him."
In addition to his brother, Mr. Wong leaves two other
brothers, Warren of Needham and Edward of Hawaii.
A memorial service will be held at 7 tonight in the Wing
Fook Funeral Home in Boston.
Gateway Arts will pay tribute to Mr. Wong's passion for art
and fashion at a 7 p.m. fashion show in his honor at the
studio on Oct. 21 as part of an exhibition reception from 6
to 8 p.m.