At times of social and political crisis, the enduring aspects – and problems – of life can be readily obscured, swallowed by momentous calamity. In such times it befalls artists and the art they make to remind us what is truly important – important to those insights we have into our species, important to our collective sense of species, and important to our very survival as a species. If, as ever, we live and struggle in Plato’s cave with its elusive shadows, then art is the canary in the neo-Platonic coalmine. 

 

Diana Shuiu Wong paints to keep the canary alive, and thus to keep homo sapiens vital. In embracing equally the aesthetics and the philosophies of the East, her birthplace, and of the West, her residence, Wong proposes that the visionary power of art be released in the studio and equally in the gallery – not simply to show off her talent(s) or her vision(s), but to share with her audience her urgent grasp of the energy connecting humanity to nature. Thus Wong can endow us with a vision of metaphysical – indeed, existential – alliance. Wong paints cells and molecules so that we can comprehend the core of life. She paints seasons and terrestrial sensations so that we can comprehend the passage of life. She paints labyrinths and vast cosmic structures so that we can comprehend the infinitesimal but crucial place life – as we know it -- has in a vast and astounding universe.

 

 

 

Peter Frank – Los Angeles – August 2025