Well-known for large-scale interactive installations Nick Dong has always enticed the viewer to literally step into and explore elaborately and impeccably rendered worlds reflecting his own values and vision. “Be-longing-En-lightening” is comprised of two distinct but related spaces and is meant to invite or provoke us to explore both spirituality and intimacy two subjects the artist values highly and wishes us to contemplate. Dong is intensely interested in how we shape and share values through human connections and the spaces are familiar–a room and a staircase–yet fantastical allowing us to taste the flavor of the artist’s point-of-view while wandering through our own journey.
Nick Dong was born in Taipei Taiwan and resides in Oakland CA. He refers to himself as a conceptual metalsmith mixed-media sculptor and socio-commodity engineer. He took his BFA from Tung-Hai University in Taiwan and his MFA in metalsmithing and jewelry from the University of Oregon. He has taught at California College of the Arts in Oakland Chu-Jai-Jao Specialty High School in Shanghai Mus�e Tomo in Tokyo Mart Tiller in Taipei Gallery FLUX in San Francisco and the University of Oregon in Eugene. In 2008 Dong’s Fabled Adornment series was acquired by the National Museum of Norway. In 2012 Dong’s Enlightenment Room was selected to be in the exhibition “40 under 40 – Craft futures” in the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute of American Art Museum.
SPECIAL EVENTS:
Artist Talk and Reception: Saturday April 26 4-6pm (artist talk at 5pm)
Oakland Art Murmur First Friday: May 2 6-9pm
Oakland Art Murmur First Friday: April 4 6-9pm
Third Thursdays: April 17 and May 15 6-8pm
Saturday Stroll: April 12 and May 10