Artist based in Los Angeles, CA, USA
Adrian Kay Wong, Portrait of the Artist.
Tell us about yourself, what's your background?
I was born and raised in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area into a family that immigrated from Hong Kong and Macau. While my parents were generally supportive in that they allowed some freedom to my brother and me to explore our interests, it was still very much a stereotypical Asian household where pragmatism was dominant. Discipline was expected as was competency.
At that time, art was just a hobby and served as an "easy A" to help bolster my GPA. It wasn't until my aunt and high school art teacher pursuaded me to scrounge together a portfolio to apply to art schools (of which I knew absolutely nothing about) that I paused my college applications for Macroeconomics and took my first big leap of faith. To be fully transparent, I didn't have a particular draw or passion for art. I mean, I liked that I was "good" at it. I just had the juvenile thought that I didn't want to do math for the rest of my life and that I wasn't smart enough for science or medicine. I barely had the inkling of pursuing higher education, nor did I understand "creative expression" until much later.
Title: Dotting The Eyes Date: 2025 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 76"H x 96"W x 8"D
Studying at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago was integral to my trajectory as an artist because it broke down my preconceived notions about art. From there, I built upon a restructured foundation where critique and conceptualism was able to take some root. Equally important, was a developing understanding that this journey is ultimately in my own hands. I am not owed a place at the proverbial table. I'd have to earn it. Harsh, but nonetheless true.
I had no intention of becoming an "artist" when I was young, nor did I understand what that meant until several years after moving to Los Angeles. These were some of my most difficult and trying times, but also some of the most important in the lessons I learned. I held various jobs at art stores and as an artist assistant while trying to support my art practice. It felt more like survival and trying to earn that aforementioned seat at the table.
Title: Fluorescent Date: 2025 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 27"H x 30"W x 0.75"D
“Overlooked moments become deeply considered, taking on momentous, cinematic qualities. . .Characterized by a quiet stillness like a bated breath, the paintings capture vignettes of intimacy, connection, identity, and culture."
Title: Double Happiness Date: 2025 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 30"H x 42"W x 0.75"D
What are you currently working on and where did the inspiration for it come from?
I actually just finished a body of work for my solo show that opened this past April. It's called "Same Time, Same Place" and is on view at Hashimoto Contemporary in San Francisco.
The paintings in the show offer a sentimental look into the familiar, everyday settings we inhabit. Overlooked moments become deeply considered, taking on momentous, cinematic qualities. Hints of stories and narratives unfold within the exhibition as shared settings and recurring objects follow the viewer from frame to frame, drawing subtle relations between one another. Characterized by a quiet stillness like a bated breath, the paintings capture vignettes of intimacy, connection, identity, and culture.
A shot of the painting area of my home studio.
When I first began the paintings, it was with the initial goal of reintroducing figures back into my paintings. Around 2020, during the onset of a global pandemic as well as many social justice issues, I felt that my approach to image-making was stagnant. Maybe it was the events of that year or maybe it was creative frustration. Either way, I shifted toward nonfigural subject-matter and focused on the everyday objects that make up our daily settings. These still lifes provided a safe place for me to explore not only more detail in my paintings, but also more personal subject matter relating to identity and culture.
Four years later, I was offered this solo show opportunity with ten months to work. This felt like an opportune time to be ambitious. 2024 was a rough year for many of us, myself included. So I went to work.
Moving paintings in and out as I finish or need to rework.
Innovation does not only happen in the field of technology — it occurs everyday in a creative practice. What do you do for inspiration?
Honestly, nothing really special. I mostly try to just stick to my routine and maintain an open and receptive mind. Kind of like if you were to hold a small bird in your hand: firm enough where you're focused and containing the idea. But not so tightly that there's no room for the idea to breath, expand, or explore. Too rigid and the expectation creates a stressful and suffocating mindset. Too soft or leisurely, the idea will escape.
A shot of my hand as I place final touches on a painting.
So on good days, when decisions and inspiration comes relatively quickly and smoothly, I just try to stay in that flow state. On worse days, it's just the simple things like remembering to take breaks. Step away sometimes for a bit. Work on a different task that needs to get done. I try to reframe my perspective or shift my mindset without changing up my routine too much.
A shot of the painting area of my home studio at night; during busy times, work days can be upwards of 14 hours.
Describe your practice and process. Where do ideas start for you? In the studio or being in the world?
Ideas can come from anywhere for me. Whether that's in the studio or being out in the world, I can usually find the semblance of an idea anywhere.
Process-wise, I first work digitally simply because I need to see how different elements of a painting affect other parts from beginning to end; everything -- color, forms, and composition -- exist in context to each other. I need to see what can best elevate the image and I won't really know unless I have the luxury of trial and error.
Title: Overcast Date: 2025 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 25"H x 27"W x 0.75"D
So, I accumulate dozens and dozens of layers. It's a lot of adjusting things here and there, seeing what happens when I replace one object with another, reorienting the perspective, cropping the image differently, etc. And until I reach the point where I feel like there's no reason to add or subtract anything, I just keep working on the image. Sometimes it takes a few days, sometimes a few months.
Several digital mock-ups grouped together on my laptop as paintings are often part of series or different bodies of work.
How do you make your work, does it start with a sketch?
My work typically starts at an "origin" point, where I've found something I want to explore or expand upon. Sometimes it can be something more abstract like the way a cast of light interacts with an object, or as specific as how the doorframe crops a figure's shoulder and arm in an intriguing way.
From there, I'll start building out a "space" off of this foundation, asking myself questions like "Okay, if the figure is standing here, what would be behind them? Let's say, a window. What kind of window? What's outside of the window? What's in the foreground? In what space is the viewer's vantage point? Another room? What's in this room?" And so on and so forth as I insert details from my personal experience, cultural identity, and any other ideas I want to explore.
Only when every facet and detail of the painting is considered and thought through do I start painting. Sometimes I'll draw out the mock-up or sometimes I'll use a projector. The actual painting is relatively straight forward and is more of a meditative practice until completion. At this stage, paintings will sit for a period of time as I spend some time with them. If nothing comes to mind, I leave it alone and call it finished. Sometimes, I'll adjust a color or change a form, but not often.
Comparing photo reference to a digital mock-up. Often, paintings are composites of dozens of references from observation, my personal life, cultural background, memories, and experiences. Photo by: Emma K Morris
Stylistically, I think most people see the flatness in my painting first, which started off I think as sort of a coping mechanism after moving to Los Angeles in 2013. I was in a brand new setting with little in my life besides a minimum wage job and the few belongings I took with me to my small studio apartment. To answer the big questions in my life at that time -- what do I want to paint, how am I going to paint it, how am I going to make this all work -- I needed to simplify. And by that process of reduction, came an eye for formal properties like color, line, and composition.
As the years passed, I've become more and more specific with adding personal details to my work. Where I once thought it would alienate viewers, that specificity I realized only added authenticity and poignancy to my work. So my paintings are still flat, and still very compositionally focused, but balance on the line of abstraction and representation that ebb and flows. Similarly, within the image are methods of layering and obscuring which brings sections forward and back. My hope, stylistically, is to reward viewers for a longer viewing. That they leave with a different impression than their first initial one.
Wrapping a painting with glassine in preparation for transit for an exhibition.
Many artists live by their routines, what does that look like for you?
I do have a pretty diligent routine on the days that I work -- typically 5 - 7 days of the week.
I'm usually awake by 7AM and, since I work from home, get started on something by 7:30 or 8 after getting up and getting some coffee. I'll usually work until 6PM with breakfast and lunch somewhere around 10AM and 2PM. At 6, I'll get about an hour of lifting in, during which my partner get back from her work. I'll then make food for us and finish whatever chores need to get done after. That leaves us a couple hours of leisure until I try to sleep by 11 or 12.
Title: Distance Date: 2025 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 38"H x 72"W x 1.5"D
I don't really have set times for different types of work. Sometimes I start with emails, sometimes I go straight into painting for 10 hours. "Work" for me can be anything from painting, sketching, working on digital mock-ups, documenting/editing work, administrative work or even visiting galleries or catching a movie that I feel would be relevant to my practice. It's important for me to preserve and cultivate a momentum and to not work too fast or too slow. Steady as it goes.
Whatever I'm working on, I'm usually listening to podcasts, music, or some sort of longer form content. It really is a delicate balance of finding things not too interesting where it takes me out of my work, but not too banal that it's just distracting noise.
Sketching a drawing onto canvas. Photo by Emma K. Morris
Who are your biggest influences?
Firstly, my parents. My father taught me discipline and hard work while my mother taught me kindness and patience. My aunt has always been one of my biggest supporters and confidants. I am also lucky enough to have people in my personal life who offer help selflessly, work around my sometimes insane schedule, and tolerate my lesser qualities. I can't thank all these people enough and they certainly have been huge influences and inspirations for not only my work, but who I am as a person.
As for within the art realm, here's a few artists who's work stood out to me as I was preparing for my show:
Gahee Park
Kyle Dunn
Nathalie Du Pasquier
Alex Colville
Leonardo Cremonini
Jamie Luoto
Anthony Cudahy
A second shot of the painting area of my home studio.
Are there books or films that are an important source of inspiration?
I used to read more fiction, but most of my reading now is books on artists and their work/lives or self-help books. The former is pretty self-explanatory. For the latter, I think self-work only helps me be more aware and conscientious of my thoughts, feelings, and actions. As a result, I believe it makes my work more well-informed and (at least inwardly) perceptive.
For films, I may be stating the obvious, but I'm probably drawn most to visually-forward films. Or ones where the DP has a really strong presence. I'm a big fan of "show not tell" as I find my favorite paintings involve a lot of that. An old favorite I always return to is "In The Mood For Love" by Wong Kar-wai. Any of his films really.
Work in progress.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
I've forgotten where I first came across this, but I've had this quote taped to the wall in my studio for the past few years. Couple parts are consolidated but, "This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy…my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can…the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."
Title: Slow Lane
Date: 2025
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 28"H x 42"W x 0.75"D
What is the best advice you would give to other artists?
I don't know if I'm in the position to be giving other people advice, so I'll pass on the quote, "This too shall pass".
When times are hard, know that it won't last forever. Take it day by day. Just show up as best you can each time and know that the next day will hold opportunity for better circumstances. There are lessons to be found in everything no matter how big or small.
When times are good, know that it won't last forever. Be present. Enjoy the moment while it's in front of you. Be observant. Ground yourself. Take notice of all the little things around you that is making this possible, including yourself. Acknowledge the fact that you as you are now made it happen.
Don't worry, I struggle to embrace these most of the time, too.
Portrait of the artist
Stay up to date with Adrian Kay Wong
Website adriankaywong.com
Instagram @adriankaywong