Matthew Wong’s Winter Landscapes
By Elizabeth Gillett
Far from the, at times, exhausting Christmas ‘cheer’—and the rampant consumerism, overplayed music, and disposable decorations that come with it—I wanted to hold space today for the beauty of the winter landscape, pure and untouched by the throws of capitalism.
Matthew Wong, Winter Nocturne, 2017, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in.
Image courtesy of Karma Gallery.
Matthew Wong’s winter landscapes, from his 2017-2019 series Blue, offer respite from the relentless hustle and bustle of the holiday season, instead inviting the viewer into dream-like, mystical landscapes recalling Qing Period ink paintings, the Fauves, and the works of Van Gogh.
Akin to Caspar David Friedrich, human figures are often minimised or absent altogether in Wong’s work, prompting the viewer to contemplate the sublimity of the natural world. In Winter Nocturne, 2018, a trail of footprints leads to the end of a snow-covered cliff, offering evidence of human presence.
Matthew Wong, Night 3, 2018.
Image courtesy of Massimo De Carlo Gallery.
Similarly, Night 3, 2018, places the viewer in a wintry forest. Illuminated by the glow of a full moon, a common motif in Wong’s work, the silhouette of a mountain range peaks through the trees, whilst thick globs of white snow fall from the sky, all rendered in a similar limited colour palette of greys and blues.
Furthermore, Wong’s use of the colour blue—which he believed possessed the ability to ‘activate nostalgia, both personal and collective’—in these desolate winter scenes can serve as a visual metaphor for the often overlooked aspects of the holiday season—the quiet moments of reflection, the beauty in stillness, and the bittersweet nostalgia that often accompanies this time of year.
In doing so, although not their original intention, Wong’s landscapes capture the essence of Advent—a time of waiting and reflection—and remind us that amidst the festivity, cheer, and sometimes stress of the holidays, there is also space for quiet introspection and appreciating the natural world.
Bibliography
MFA Boston. ‘Matthew Wong: The Realm of Appearances.’ Accessed December 7, 2024, https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/matthew-wong-the-realm-of-appearances
Russeth, Andrew. ‘Matthew Wong, Whose Incredible Canvases Charted New Paths for Landscape painting, is Dead at 35.’ ARTnews, October 6, 2019. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/matthew-wong-painter-dead-13336/
Karma Gallery. https://karmakarma.org/exhibitions/matthew-wong-blue/press-release/
Khatchadourian, Raffi. ‘Matthew Wong’s Life in Light and Shadow.’ The New Yorker, May 9, 2022. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/16/matthew-wongs-life-in-light-and-shadow