At Large

Chelsea Ryoko Wong has a serious case of wanderlust. The San Francisco-based artist’s recent destinations include Tunisia, Japan, Paris, Aspen, Seattle, where she grew up, Greece, and Tahoe, along with coastal California locales such as Big Sur and Sea Ranch. “[Traveling] allows me to see the world with new eyes and connect with people and cultures across the world,” says Ryoko Wong “Despite our cultural differences I believe we’re all connected!” 

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With senseless shootings, war, exorbitant property prices, climate change, job insecurity, inflation, the disastrous effects of tech, mental illness, racism, crime, and the polarizing political climate plaguing not just the United States, but the world at large, Ryoko Wong decided to focus her latest series of paintings on something more positive. She created a little over a dozen paintings filled with vibrant colors, graphic geometric shapes—and lots of joy for “Nostalgia for the Present Tense,” which is on view now until September 7 at Jessica Silverman Gallery in San Francisco. 

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“While I was making the paintings, I was reflecting on these sweet moments of life and all the good that's happening,” Ryoko Wong tells Family Style. “But then also this heaviness that's been around, not just in the outer world, but also watching friends experience grief or sadness and so, [I was] wondering about these heavier themes in the world, and so this nostalgia for the present tense kind of came about as an idea, like an antidote to all of that.”

Ryoko Wong’s distinct style features two-dimensional characters engaging with one another in the middle of a body of water in the great outdoors or within vibrant interiors. The smiles on their faces exude joy and usually, only their profiles are displayed. “There's a subconscious thing that happens when you see someone in a painting [who is] very direct, where someone is staring directly at you. It can feel confrontational subconsciously, or it invites the viewer in,” she says.“I usually paint people in profile because it gives people a chance to see themselves within the painting, but also as an outsider, it feels like you're observing someone.”

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The artist conceived of the exhibition title when she found herself holed up inside her Mission District studio in San Francisco, recalling the moments of her travels in which she was engaged. She felt torn, wondering how to navigate the uncertainty in the world, along with her existential search for meaning in life. “I have to live in the present,” she recalls understanding. “I'm alive right now. I have this time with my family right now. I have this time with my friends. I'm still healthy and able-bodied. I can travel. So how do I live in this present time?” Her antidote was to create the paintings. 

Born to a Japanese mother and Chinese father, Ryoko Wong grew up in Seattle in a blended family; she has two older sisters who are half Black and half Japanese, and a sister from her dad’s former marriage who is also Japanese and Chinese. Her parents adopted each other’s kids when they married. “I always like to place my family in the paintings, in these ways, where I feel like we're all connected, even if you can't tell,” she says. Her father, as an example, appears in Nobody Gets Out of Here Alive, 2024, a loose family portrait where he’s the white-haired man playing cards. “We grew up playing cards,” the artist recalls, noting the title acts as a double entendre, referring to the idea of not knowing what the future holds when gambling, and the fact that nobody leaves this earth alive. “You never know what hand you’ll be dealt.”  

Her paintings are part-fact, part-fiction; Ryoko Wong often embellishes the scenes she creates. For instance, The Spectacle of Love, 2024, depicts Maroon Bells, the famed double peaks southwest of Aspen, which she reached during a solo hike. “Everyone felt so happy and joyous,” recalls Ryoko Wong “It was such a sweet experience to be hiking in this beautiful area by myself and witnessing all this love, and vacation celebration around me.”. Though nobody was in the water when she arrived at the destination in real life, she opted to place swimmers in her painted lake. Another, A Sweet Sanctuary, 2024, depicts a scene in a temple in Japan with a sitar player in the background, referencing the instrument beloved by  the Japanese band Kikagaku Moyo. While in line to watch them in Kyoto she ran into friends. “You could be halfway across the world and still see someone you know from home who have these international connections,” she explains. ​​

Ryoko Wong made light of an artist residency gone awry earlier this year at Nick’s Cove in Marin County “I was supposed to paint in this boat shack and it literally combusted to flames during the opening event,” she recalls.. “Nobody was in it, but I was supposed to paint, do talks—and I was the inaugural artist.” The painting, A Cumulative Feeling, 2024, shows the structure in the distance as people drink wine, flames flying about, yet it doesn’t feel dark or tragic.

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Amid all the uncertainty in the world, it’s true that we need art like Ryoko Wong’s that evokes a joie de vivre, a reminder of the beauty of personal connections.“Community is so important to me,” emphasizes Ryoko Wong once more. “There is this connection between people, communities, and generations and also the past and future.I don't take any of it for granted, you know. For me, that's how I want to live.”

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“Nostalgia for the Present Tense” is on view until September 7, 2024 at Jessica Silverman Gallery at 621 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94108.