PRIDE!!! Kaisik Wong, "Other Sources," Cherel Ito, Steven Arnold

Celebrating June PRIDE

[SFAI photo student Cherel Ito’s B & W photos of Kaisik Wong; color photos of Kaisik Wong’s SFAI Rooftop performance during Carlos Villa’s Other Sources: An American Essay exhibit, 1976]

KAISIK WONG & OTHER SOURCES & STEVEN ARNOLD & CHEREL ITO

In 1976, artist and SFAI faculty member Carlos Villa put together Other Sources: An American Essay, an exhibition and series of related lectures, performances, and roundtable discussions aimed at showcasing artists of color, celebrating the art practices of diverse cultures, and expanding the dialogue around contemporary art to include a wider range of voices. Kaisik Wong’s elaborately theatrical clothing designs were featured in the rooftop performance shown here. Wong never studied or taught at SFAI, but he was a participant in the school’s artistic community and collaborated with SFAI students Cherel Ito and Steven Arnold. Like Arnold, Wong was admired by and spent time with Salvador Dali (often in full costume as his alternate persona, the Monkey King).

According to the AIDS Memorial SF facebook page, Wong “handmade most of his pieces, cutting them free form, had a retail outlet in Henri Bendel, and was the co-owner of his own fashion label, MuunTux. His clients included Tina Turner and Elton John.” In 1995 there was a major DeYoung exhibition of Kaisik’s work.

 ---To see Kaisik Wong pieces in the Fine Arts Museum SF’s collection: https://art.famsf.org/kaisik-wong

---and for more on Kaisik, Dali, and Steven Arnold: https://stevenarnoldarchive.wordpress.com/tag/kaisik-wong/

--and for more on Kaisik’s influence on Steven Arnold and Luminous Procuress: https://bampfa.org/page/illumination-procured-steven-arnold-and-body-eclectic

With permission, SFAA is re-posting the emails Jeff Gunderson Librarian/Archivist Anne Bremer Memorial Library has been sending out since March 2020. Please enjoy this magnificent archive.