Holly Wong: Incantations

Bridgette Mayer Gallery is thrilled to announce Incantations, Wong’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition will be on view from Tuesday, October 29 to Saturday, December 14, 2024. A panel discussion on “Trauma, Art, and Transformation” with Holly Wong, Gallery Director Bridgette Mayer, Abstract Artist Dr. James George, and Inaugural Director George Family Center for Healing Arts Morgan Yacoe, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts will take place on Friday, November 1st from 4:30 – 6:00 PM, with an opening reception immediately following at the gallery.

Incantations features a new series of collaged paintings on shaped aluminum, mixed media drawings on wood panels and an immersive installation of heat molded acrylic. A total of eleven collaged paintings on shaped aluminum, four drawings and a room-sized installation will be on view.

The show’s title references Wong’s artistic journey which led to creating a bridge from pain to joy. The work explores the power of healing through mining of memory and the revealed beauty of personal transformation. By sublimating the scars of trauma and violence within the work the wounds can be alchemized into a new resilience. Wong uses a multitude of materials including oil paint, graphite, charcoal, alcohol and acrylic ink, colored pencil, as well as silverpoint on paper, all of which is then cut and densely layered onto aluminum dibond with archival adhesives. She begins these richly colored pieces by painting or drawing detailed closeups of crime scenes or bruised and battered skin. From there, she incorporates aquatic and botanical elements with a goal of emphasizing the brokenness of traumatic memory but also the healing that occurs with the passage of time and literally the overgrowth and reclaiming of nature.
Wong’s series of four drawings on wood panel display ornate mark making, superimposed with candle smoke, gouache and hand cut drafting film. These lightly monochromatic pieces, in earth tones, creams and whites, emphasize the ephemeral nature of the spirit and the breath. This series reflects the more contemplative qualities of Wong’s approach, integrating her interests in meditation and Eastern philosophies.

Finally, the largest scale work in the exhibition, an installation of twenty-one pieces of laser cut frosted acrylic that have been heat molded by hand and then drawn on both sides with lightfast colored pencil, will fill the back gallery. Suspended in a rising, luminous landscape along the span of the Gallery’s longest room, Wong titled this work Hydra in homage to the Greek mythological sea monster. As the story goes, with each head Hercules severs from the monster, two more grow in its place. Hydra, vibrant in color and pattern, serves as a proxy for Wong’s own undefeatable spirit which cannot be suppressed. Consistent with the overall theme of resilience, the scale and ambition of the work exists to fully engage visitors.
Incantations is Wong’s most personal and ebullient exhibition to date, incorporating all her learning and her desire to forge connection. She states:
“An amulet is a spiritual object of protection that you carry with you. I created these works in the exhibition as amulets for healing and sanctuary both for myself and for the larger world context of conflict and pain. My art making is a magical process that reveals the sacred in myself.”
About the Artist:
Holly Wong creates collaged paintings and drawings as well as fiber and drawing-based installations that explore healing and resilience. She was educated at the San Francisco Art Institute where she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts. Wong has participated in over 100 exhibitions including group shows at the de Young Museum, the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum. A Presidential Scholar in the Arts, she has received grants from the California Arts Council (Established Artist category), the Puffin Foundation, the George Sugarman Foundation, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. She is represented by Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia. Wong lives and works in San Francisco.
Exhibition information: Incantations will be on view from Tuesday, Tuesday, October 29 to Saturday, December 14, 2024, at Bridgette Mayer Gallery.
Panel Discussion at PAFA
November 1st, 4:30pm – 6:00pm
118 N. Broad Street
Rhoden Auditorium
Samuel MV Hamilton Building, 1st floor
Philadelphia, PA 19102

Exhibition Reception
November 1st, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Bridgette Mayer Gallery
709 Walnut Street, 1st Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Gallery information: Bridgette Mayer Gallery is free and open to the public. We are located at 709 Walnut Street, 1st Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00am – 5:00pm.
For more information, please contact Emma Burke at: eburke@bmayerart.com.