In 2017, we’re all on Instagram, but in the late ’70s one man was known as the “Human Instamatic.” That was Martin Wong, whose posthumous exhibit Martin Wong: Human Instamatic is at BAMPFA through Dec. 10.
Wong grew up in Chinatown, and came of age in the Bay Area and Humboldt County. But when you look at his work after 1978, when he moved to New York, it’s incredible: he was living on the Lower East Side, hanging out with Puerto Rican motorcycle riders and early hip-hop graffiti writers, and his paintings capture the look and feeling of the gritty melting pot of the neighborhood.
They also provided an outlet for his sexuality — his depictions of firefighters, especially — and it was only when he was diagnosed with AIDS that he moved back to San Francisco. He died here in 1999, but this exhibit keeps his work alive. After a run in the Bronx last year, it’s in the Bay Area for the first time at BAMPFA in Berkeley. Details here.
