Donald Tobias Wong (June 10, 1974 – May 30, 2010) was a Canadian

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

. His work was heavily influenced by subversive art movements including

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

and

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers, and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...

, and, having received numerous

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

orders, Wong become known for appropriating work by others. He used the term "paraconceptual" to describe his art.

Background

Wong was born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada, on June 10, 1974. He attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

for two years, subsequently moving to New York City in 1997 to continue his education at the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

School of Art, where he studied art and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, eventually concentrating on

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. He earned a certificate in art in 2000. He met his American-born partner of five years Timothy Edward "Tim" Dubitsky, an artist and designer, in New York City in 2004. Wong died by

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

on May 30, 2010, at his East Village apartment in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

at the age of 35. A ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' report after Wong's death investigated his long history of

parasomnia Parasomnias are a category of sleep disorders that involve abnormal movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and dreams that occur while falling asleep, sleeping, between sleep stages, or during arousal from sleep. Parasomnias are dissocia ...

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

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 is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

and luxury objects and presented in the context of design stores and industry magazines. File:Killer-Ring, Tobias Wong, Philipp Mohr 2004.jpg, Killer Ring, 2004 In collaboration with the designer

Philipp Mohr Philipp Mohr is an American architect, artist, author, and industrial designer. He's known for designing celebrity homes such as the New York apartment of German film director Tom Tykwerbr>In collaboration with other designers, he created seve ...

he created the Diamond Project series and the "hidden diamond ring" which features a

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

on the inside of a wedding band as well as an

engagement ring An engagement ring, also known as a betrothal ring, is a ring indicating that the person wearing it is engaged to be married, especially in Western cultures. A ring is presented as an engagement gift by a partner to their prospective spouse ...

with a reverse diamond. Along with Ken Courtney of ''Ju$t Another Rich Kid'' he launched a collection of luxury products cast in

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. One of his most acclaimed designs is his Ballistic Rose, a rose pin made of black

bulletproof Bulletproofing is the process of making an object capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles (e.g. shrapnel). The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protecti ...

material. It has been included in the design collection at

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

. Wong participated in '' Terminal 5'', a 2004 art exhibit at the then-dormant

TWA Flight Center The TWA Flight Center, also known as the Trans World Flight Center, is an airport terminal and hotel complex at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City. The original terminal building, or head house, operated as a terminal ...

at the

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is ...

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 London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-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 ''Core77'' is an online design magazine that covers the field of industrial design. The site began as the graduate thesis of Stuart Constantine and Eric Ludlum in their final year at Brooklyn, New York's Pratt Institute. The site was launche ...

s Offsite speaker series. Rama Chorpash, designer and Chair of the Undergraduate Industrial Design Department at The University of the Arts in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 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's work included events including a pop-up

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...

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 Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. Wong created a "book-gun" called ''I Want To Change The World'', spoofing Karim Rashid's similarly titled

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

that had been cut out in the shape of a gun. Wong's work was exhibited at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

SFMOMA The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art, and has b ...

and Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. He completed projects for

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette or Colette Willy, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a Mime artist, mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaki ...

Comme des Garçons Comme des Garçons (CDG, ) is a Japanese fashion label, founded by Rei Kawakubo in 1969. It is based in Paris, where its flagship store is located. Other than fashion, the label has expanded to include jewelry and perfume (under the brand Comme ...

Prada Prada S.p.A. (, ; ) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913 in Milan by Mario Prada. It specializes in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, and other fashion accessories. Prada licenses its name and branding ...

/OMA, Cappellini, and Swarovski Crystal Palace. From November 2022 to July 2023, the

Museum of Vancouver The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) (formerly the Vancouver Museum and prior to that the Centennial Museum) is a civic history museum located in Vanier Park, Vancouver, British Columbia. The MOV is the largest civic museum in Canada and the oldest museu ...

featured an exhibit of Wong's work.

References

External links

Treehugger.com Obituary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Tobi 1974 births 2010 suicides Artists from New York City Artists from Vancouver Canadian jewellery designers Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian sculptors Cooper Union alumni Canadian gay artists American LGBTQ artists Suicides in New York City University of Toronto alumni People from the East Village, Manhattan Suicides by hanging in New York City Artists who died by suicide 2010 deaths 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people