Contributing Artists
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Dustin Wong was born in Hawaii (1982) and grew up in Tokyo. He studied Film at the California College of Arts in Oakland (2001-2003) and sculpture and performance at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore (2003-2005).
After graduating from MICA, his creative focus shifted to music. Forming bands (Ecstatic Sunshine, Ponytail) and cultivating solo music projects opened opportunities for him to travel throughout the US and Europe. For over ten years, the themes of Dustin’s work have been interested in the mystical, esoteric, and spiritual and, in recent years, have moved towards the idea of creating a space for healing through sight and sound. internal hot spring // @dustin_clarence_h_wong |
Projects
“33 Views of Azrael” Light Projection on view in the PRS Courtyard
PRS Contributing Artist Dustin Wong, whose exhibit “Perpetual Morphosis” was featured in the Hansell Gallery and Auditorium from March to May, 2022, returns with a specially commissioned light installation in the PRS Courtyard titled “33 Views of Azrael” that conjures eerie and mesmerizing visions of ethereal angels, mysterious undersea creatures and iridescent alien space invaders.
“An idea that started with the musings of ghosts, aether/air for resuscitation, kites, and the supernatural happening in our peripheral hallucination, the trajectory changed to the idea of angels. Constructing abstract angels rather than humanoid, like the description of the chariot by Ezekiel, it's something to be reckoned with rather than be comforted by. In Islam, a group of individuals would see the same angel differently, depending on their spiritual characteristics. The projections are the iterations of Azrael, the Angel of death. Some resemble insects or deep sea creatures, moving or emitting lights to entrance their prey, the light show that one sees before one gets consumed. The angel(s) are in loops of different lengths, allowing phasing of movement and patterns.” – Dustin Wong.
“An idea that started with the musings of ghosts, aether/air for resuscitation, kites, and the supernatural happening in our peripheral hallucination, the trajectory changed to the idea of angels. Constructing abstract angels rather than humanoid, like the description of the chariot by Ezekiel, it's something to be reckoned with rather than be comforted by. In Islam, a group of individuals would see the same angel differently, depending on their spiritual characteristics. The projections are the iterations of Azrael, the Angel of death. Some resemble insects or deep sea creatures, moving or emitting lights to entrance their prey, the light show that one sees before one gets consumed. The angel(s) are in loops of different lengths, allowing phasing of movement and patterns.” – Dustin Wong.
Solo Exhibition
Dustin Wong, video still from Aesther, 2022
Perpetual Morphosis by Dustin Wong
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 19, 2022 4:00-8:00pm | Co-presented with Feels Like Floating | RSVP
Exhibit Runs: March 19-May 21, 2022
Gallery Hours: Fridays 12:00-6:00pm, and by appointment (info@prs.org)
PRS is excited to present a new solo exhibition by Dustin Wong titled Perpetual Morphosis. Inspired by Brion Gysin’s Dreamachines, Japanese soumatou (motorized lanterns of the Obon spirit festivals), and the work of light artist Thomas Wilfred, Perpetual Morphosis evokes the reflective properties and effects of myth and perception. While we readily recognize myth in popular and canonical archetypes, Perpetual Morphosis presents occasions in which we can also discover the mythic significations imaginable in abstract phenomena. By spending time with Dustin Wong’s array of audio-visual rendezvous—or, as mythologist Joseph Campbell would say, getting “tricked into the ritual” of engaging the exhibit— in which scintillating objects concurrently rotate and metamorphize, the viewer may form meaningful relationships to shapes, patterns, and fluctuations of light and color.
This exhibit—stationed in various spaces throughout PRS’ campus and most prominently in its Hansell Gallery—features multiple installation pieces. Each immersive installation environment invites viewers to take in staggered and continuously looped “video sculptures.” Wong’s video sculptures are made by filming materials placed upon slowly-spinning turntables—a process that seeks to recreate novel textures and evoke in the viewer’s mind correlations between organic materials and eternal archetypes.
The exhibit’s opening reception will include a music performance by Wong and BRIN (Colin Blanton), that will conclude at sunset. Before and after the performance, attendees are welcome to wander through and spend time in the installation spaces of Perpetual Morphosis.
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 19, 2022 4:00-8:00pm | Co-presented with Feels Like Floating | RSVP
Exhibit Runs: March 19-May 21, 2022
Gallery Hours: Fridays 12:00-6:00pm, and by appointment (info@prs.org)
PRS is excited to present a new solo exhibition by Dustin Wong titled Perpetual Morphosis. Inspired by Brion Gysin’s Dreamachines, Japanese soumatou (motorized lanterns of the Obon spirit festivals), and the work of light artist Thomas Wilfred, Perpetual Morphosis evokes the reflective properties and effects of myth and perception. While we readily recognize myth in popular and canonical archetypes, Perpetual Morphosis presents occasions in which we can also discover the mythic significations imaginable in abstract phenomena. By spending time with Dustin Wong’s array of audio-visual rendezvous—or, as mythologist Joseph Campbell would say, getting “tricked into the ritual” of engaging the exhibit— in which scintillating objects concurrently rotate and metamorphize, the viewer may form meaningful relationships to shapes, patterns, and fluctuations of light and color.
This exhibit—stationed in various spaces throughout PRS’ campus and most prominently in its Hansell Gallery—features multiple installation pieces. Each immersive installation environment invites viewers to take in staggered and continuously looped “video sculptures.” Wong’s video sculptures are made by filming materials placed upon slowly-spinning turntables—a process that seeks to recreate novel textures and evoke in the viewer’s mind correlations between organic materials and eternal archetypes.
The exhibit’s opening reception will include a music performance by Wong and BRIN (Colin Blanton), that will conclude at sunset. Before and after the performance, attendees are welcome to wander through and spend time in the installation spaces of Perpetual Morphosis.
