Big Heat: The Bronx Museum Champions the Brave, Unflinching Martin Wong

Andrew Russeth | ARTnews | 6th November 2015

Martin Wong could churn out portraits at street fairs for $7.50 each – hence his name “human instamatic”. While he hung out with graffitists, most of his effort went into exuberant urban realist landscapes of New York’s then decaying lower east side. Critical recognition has come slowly – following his AIDS related death in 1999, he is only now getting a museum retrospective. A short background video (4 min) is here.