Brent Wong

Brent Wong’s exquisite painted compositions display many of the attributes of Surrealism. Scale is disrupted, perspective is manipulated, displaced objects hover above disconcertingly idealised landscapes. The viewer is met with visions of volcanic eruptions, fractured buildings, geometric puzzles, levitating domestic objects and transitory human activity amongst other strange happenings, all of which is set against dazzling azure blue skies, silky desert dunes and spectacular cloudscapes.

Wellington-based for most of his life, Wong studied at the Wellington Polytechnic in 1963, but found the focus on technical drawing too stifling. Aside from this brief period of tutoring, Wong is entirely a self-taught painter. This has allowed him to develop an extraordinary process of discovery in his paintings, both in terms of technique and self-exploration. Embedded within Wong’s practice is a non-negotiable element of perfectionism; creating in studio from memory, he has been known to spend multiple years on one painting. As Wong’s career progressed, his paintings became less action-packed and more refined, taking on a deeply meditative quality.

Wong’s work is held in numerous public collections, including Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington City Council, and, sensationally, the BNZ Art Collection, where Wong’s painting Town Boundary (1969), shattered auction records, putting Brent into a category of very few living New Zealanders. In 2008, after painting for over forty years, Wong ceased painting to explore musical composition - a field that has interested him since the beginning of his painting career.  James Blackie is proud to represent Brent’s private collection.