About
Al Wong is a native San Franciscan artist and has spent the past 50+ years making art in a variety of mediums. His career has developed from his early years as a student at the San Francisco Art Institute where he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree. He went on to serve as an Art Professor for over 30 years at several universities and colleges including the San Francisco Art Institute, the California State University system, and Mills College. He has shown at exhibition venues such as the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the UC Berkeley Museum & Pacific Film Archive. Al’s work has toured nationally and internationally including Europe, South America, and Japan. He has received numerous awards and honors including the American Film Institute grant, an NEA grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Flintridge Foundation Visual Artist Award, and most recently the California Arts Council Legacy Individual Artist Fellowship.
His current exhibition is on view through Summer 2026 at the SFMOMA atrium featuring his pioneering work “Twin Peaks,” recently acquired by the museum in 2025. You can view a recent interview with the artist and curator Tanya Zimbardo as part of the San Francisco Artists Alumni Spotlight series here:
Other recent museum exhibitions have included a 2018 solo show of his photo collage series “Lost Sister” as well as inclusion in the exhibition “Way Bay”, both at the UC Berkeley Museum & Pacific Film Archive. Below is a recording of his invited lecture titled “Present Tense” in conjunction with these exhibits. View the lecture here:
Al Wong 