Thursday, June 3, 2010
Art Irreverent Designer and Conceptual Artist Tobias Wong Dead at 35
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 12:52 PM
The Vancouver-born, Manhattan-based conceptual artist and sharp-witted designer Tobias Wong died on Sunday after committing suicide in his Manhattan apartment, he was 35. In addition to coining terms like "paraconceptual" ("Of, relating to, or being partially conceptual") and "readydesigneds" (his riff on Marcel Duchamp's readymades, repurposing pieces by famous designers like Philippe Starck), Wong's objects and performances always combined artistic rigor, a sleek aesthetic and a dry, inventive sense of humor. That's him, above, selling dreams for a dollar in Soho in 1999, while he was still studying at Cooper Union. If you've stepped into a design store in the last ten years you've probably seen his glass-encased light switch, his silver and gold pills ("so your shit will sparkle"), or his all-rubber chandelier. You can see more of his excellent work on his website; his inimitably clever and critical practice will be sorely missed. (NYTimes)
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