Tobi Wong
Encyclopedia
Donald Tobias Wong was a Canadian born designer
and artist
. His work had been heavily influenced by subversive art movements including Dada
and Fluxus
, and having received numerous cease and desist
orders, Wong become known for appropriating work by others. He used the term "paraconceptual" to describe his art.
, British Columbia
, Canada
on June 10, 1974. He attended the University of Toronto
for two years, subsequently moving to New York City in 1997 to continue his education at the Cooper Union
School of Art, where he studied art and architecture, eventually concentrating on sculpture. He earned a certificate in art in 2000.
He met his American-born partner of 5 years Timothy Edward "Tim" Dubitsky, an artist and designer, in New York City in 2004.
Wong committed suicide
on May 30, 2010 at his East Village
apartment in New York City
, New York
at the age of 35. A New York Times report after Wong's death investigated his long history of parasomnia
or sleep disorders, his ability to perform "elaborate tasks that require(d) agency and concentration" during sleep, and his partner's conviction that Wong hanged himself while sleep walking.
Other presentations are more conceptual and question the meaning of how we consume or what we consume today, borrowing forms and ideas from contemporary industrial design
and luxury objects and presented in the context of design stores and industry magazines.
In collaboration with the designer Philipp Mohr
he created the Diamond Project series and the "hidden diamond ring" which features a diamond on the inside of a wedding band as well as an engagement ring with a reverse diamond. Together with Ken Courtney of Ju$t Another Rich Kid he launched a collection of luxury products cast in gold
. One of his most acclaimed designs is his Ballistic Rose, a rose pin made of black bulletproof material. It has been included in the design collection at MoMA
.
Wong participated in Terminal 5
, a 2004 art exhibit at the then dormant TWA Flight Center
at JFK Airport
curated by Rachel K. Ward and featuring the work of 18 artists. The show featured work, lectures and temporary installations drawing inspiration from the idea of travel — and the terminal's architecture. The show was to run from October 1, 2004 to January 31, 2005 — though it closed abruptly after the building itself was vandalized during the opening party.
In 2006 Wong collaborated with London based product design company SUCK UK
to launch his environmentally conscious Sun Jar, which continues to prove one of his greater commercial accomplishments.
In 2007 Wong arranged for a colleague to assume his identity for a presentation at Core77
's Offsite speaker series. Rama Chorpash, designer and Chair of the Undergraduate Industrial Design Department at The University of the Arts
in Philadelphia, stayed in character throughout the presentation and during a subsequent question and answer period. The ruse is consistent with Wong's subversive design oeuvre.
Wong created a "book-gun" titled I Want To Change The World, spoofing Karim Rashid
’s similarly titled monograph
cut into the shape of a gun.
Wong's work included events including a pop-up tattoo parlor at Art Basel Miami Beach/Design Miami and the Wrong Store, a "store" in New York that actually never opened. He served as founding co-creative director of 100% Design Shanghai in 2008 and 2009, affiliated with the 100% Design fairs in London and Tokyo.
Wong's work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art
, SFMOMA and Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. He completed projects for Colette
, Comme des Garcons
, Prada
/OMA, Cappellini
and Swarovski Crystal Palace.
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. His work had been heavily influenced by subversive art movements including Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
and Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
, and having received numerous cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
orders, Wong become known for appropriating work by others. He used the term "paraconceptual" to describe his art.
Background
Wong was born in VancouverVancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on June 10, 1974. He attended the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
for two years, subsequently moving to New York City in 1997 to continue his education at the Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
School of Art, where he studied art and architecture, eventually concentrating on sculpture. He earned a certificate in art in 2000.
He met his American-born partner of 5 years Timothy Edward "Tim" Dubitsky, an artist and designer, in New York City in 2004.
Wong committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
on May 30, 2010 at his East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
apartment in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at the age of 35. A New York Times report after Wong's death investigated his long history of parasomnia
Parasomnia
For the 2008 horror film, see Parasomnia Parasomnias are a category of sleep disorders that involve abnormal and unnatural movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and dreams that occur while falling asleep, sleeping, between sleep stages, or during arousal from sleep...
or sleep disorders, his ability to perform "elaborate tasks that require(d) agency and concentration" during sleep, and his partner's conviction that Wong hanged himself while sleep walking.
Work
While at Cooper Union, he became known for his personal style and his clear message — as well as a neon sign (reading anus) in his East Village apartment window. Typical of his early work are installations with a large number of the same industrial product which he would stack or assemble to create architectural shapes.Other presentations are more conceptual and question the meaning of how we consume or what we consume today, borrowing forms and ideas from contemporary industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
and luxury objects and presented in the context of design stores and industry magazines.
In collaboration with the designer Philipp Mohr
Philipp Mohr
Philipp Mohr is an architect and industrial designerIn collaboration with other designers he created several acclaimed industrial design and art objects. In 2000 Mohr designed the , a computer-generated and machine-milled piece of jewelry. In 2004, he collaborated with Tobi Wong on a series of...
he created the Diamond Project series and the "hidden diamond ring" which features a diamond on the inside of a wedding band as well as an engagement ring with a reverse diamond. Together with Ken Courtney of Ju$t Another Rich Kid he launched a collection of luxury products cast in gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. One of his most acclaimed designs is his Ballistic Rose, a rose pin made of black bulletproof material. It has been included in the design collection at MoMA
Moma
Moma may refer to:* Moma , an owlet moth genus* Moma Airport, a Russian public airport* Moma District, Nampula, Mozambique* Moma River, a right tributary of the Indigirka River* Google Moma, the Google corporate intranet...
.
Wong participated in Terminal 5
Terminal 5 (exhibition)
Terminal 5 was an art exhibition that took place in October 2004 at the then disused Eero Saarinen–designed TWA Flight Center at New York's JFK Airport....
, a 2004 art exhibit at the then dormant TWA Flight Center
TWA Flight Center
The TWA Flight Center or Trans World Flight Center, opened in 1962 as a standalone terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport .for Trans World Airlines...
at JFK Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
curated by Rachel K. Ward and featuring the work of 18 artists. The show featured work, lectures and temporary installations drawing inspiration from the idea of travel — and the terminal's architecture. The show was to run from October 1, 2004 to January 31, 2005 — though it closed abruptly after the building itself was vandalized during the opening party.
In 2006 Wong collaborated with London based product design company SUCK UK
SUCK UK
Suck UK Ltd is a London-based wholesale product design and merchandising retailer company.-History:Suck UK creates and develops innovative product design pieces. SUCK UK has worked with television shows such as Pop Idol and Big Brother....
to launch his environmentally conscious Sun Jar, which continues to prove one of his greater commercial accomplishments.
In 2007 Wong arranged for a colleague to assume his identity for a presentation at Core77
Core77
Core77 is an online magazine dedicated to the practice and produce of the field of industrial design. The site began as two students' graduate school project at Brooklyn, New York's Pratt Institute. It serves as a practical resource for students, practitioners and fans of the field, as well as a...
's Offsite speaker series. Rama Chorpash, designer and Chair of the Undergraduate Industrial Design Department at The University of the Arts
University of the Arts (Philadelphia)
The University of the Arts is one of the United States' oldest universities dedicated to the arts. Its campus makes up part of the Avenue of the Arts in Center City, Philadelphia...
in Philadelphia, stayed in character throughout the presentation and during a subsequent question and answer period. The ruse is consistent with Wong's subversive design oeuvre.
Wong created a "book-gun" titled I Want To Change The World, spoofing Karim Rashid
Karim Rashid
Karim Rashid is an industrial designer. He received a Bachelor in Industrial Design from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada in 1982 and completed his postgraduate studies in Italy....
’s similarly titled monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
cut into the shape of a gun.
Wong's work included events including a pop-up tattoo parlor at Art Basel Miami Beach/Design Miami and the Wrong Store, a "store" in New York that actually never opened. He served as founding co-creative director of 100% Design Shanghai in 2008 and 2009, affiliated with the 100% Design fairs in London and Tokyo.
Wong's work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, SFMOMA and Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. He completed projects for Colette
Colette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
, Comme des Garcons
Comme des Garçons
Comme des Garçons, written コム・デ・ギャルソン in Japanese and French for "Like Boys," is a Japanese fashion label headed by Rei Kawakubo, who owns the company with her husband Adrian Joffe....
, Prada
Prada
Prada S.p.A. is an Italian fashion label specializing in luxury goods for men and women , founded by Mario Prada.-Foundations:...
/OMA, Cappellini
Cappellini
Cappellini is an Italian surname, possibly a derivative of Capelli or Capello. It is also used as a Spanish surname. It may refer to:- People :*Anna Cappellini, Italian ice dancer*Ada Itúrrez de Cappellini, Argentine Justicialist Party politician...
and Swarovski Crystal Palace.
External links
- Treehugger.com Obituary
- Brokenoff.net, personal website (temporary copy from 2008)
- Brokenoff.com, personal website (dormant)
- Interview: Tobias Wong & Ken Courtney, Mocoloco.com
- http://www.mossonline.com/product-exec/product_id/46933
- Design, Wit and the Creative Act Speaker Panel Where Tobias Wong fooled us all, The H Line
- Work of a Rising Star, a slideshow of Wong's work at The New York Times
- Last Show and Video Interview