I first came across Brent Wong’s work on Instagram. I made up my mind then to sit with one of his paintings and stare at it for a long time. I wanted to get lost in his surreal worlds.
Today, I finally did that with his work: trauma.
Reflection
A scallop shell floats above an island made of little brown dunes or just wrinkly lines. These lines meet just below the scallop shell. With its framing, the painting immediately draws our attention towards the unusual object in the sky.
Several questions popped up within a few minutes of staring at the painting.
Is the object going to descend anytime soon?
Why is it floating in the sky anyway?
Why are the lines on the island and on the shell similar, with the ones on the shell appearing uniform?
I constantly tried to hunt for meaning, to associate different meanings with the curviness of the lines. I felt as though the lines on the island were trying to reach the scallop shell. Like something was inside that was reaching for this precious thing manifested in the sky.
Then I rotated my screen.
Suddenly, it seemed as though all the lines originated from the scallop. The sky no longer seemed like a sky—it looked like the ocean. This orientation made sense to me.
‘A scallop in the ocean seems apt,’ I thought.
I wasn’t really convinced; after all, a painting is not a puzzle to be solved. I left it at that.