Although Karla Wong has always been passionate about drawing, it was her degree in law that ultimately spurred her current practice. The Mexican artist spent her adolescent and early adult years in Oaxaca, where she attended university and eventually became a forensic and witness sketch artist for the local justice department. Rendering a figure’s likeness based solely on a description is a deeply imaginative process and one that continues to inform the artist’s practice today.
In Journeys of Being on view now at Chicago’s Intuit Art Museum, Wong presents a vibrant body of work that entwines her Oaxacan roots with her Chinese heritage and experiences as a trans woman living between the U.S. and Mexico. Included are vibrant portraits with skeletal figures evocative of Day of the Dead, the folk art sculptures known as alebrijes, and a desert landscape pocked with agave. Victorian garb and faces adorned with makeup gesture toward the performance of gender, too, and the ways we signify beauty and self-expression.
Surrealism and the uncanny inspire much of Wong’s work, and mysterious pockets of clouds and small openings also appear like portals to another world. Paintings like “Our Brief Passage Through Life (Nuestro breve paso por la vida)” share an affinity with the alchemical works of Spanish artist Remedios Varo, who portrayed more-than-human figures with odd proportions.
Playing with scale and atypical pairings of objects and motifs is characteristic of Wong. Unlike the lifelike renditions she created as a sketch artist, these vivid paintings stray from any predetermined script and instead envision a world entirely her own.
If you’re in Chicago, see Journeys of Being through January 10. Keep up with Wong’s work on Instagram.
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