q+a: caroline wong

Tchotchke Gallery: How do you think your practice has evolved since you first began?

Caroline Wong: I think when I first began there was a very clear distinction between drawing and painting. Drawing was taught to me as the preparation you do for a painting, so it wasn’t considered a medium in its own right even though the aesthetic and feeling of drawing are what have always resonated with me more. But the hierarchy between these two mediums is dissolving in my works and they are blending in a way that feels more natural and satisfying.

TG: What does your ideal studio day look like?

CW: I’d love to be able to wake up early and paint during the day like most people but I’m a night owl and start painting in the late afternoon and finish around midnight on a good day. Then I’m researching, reading, and thinking till about 2 or even 3 am. Hopefully I won’t have any early appointments the next day.

TG: What is your overall favorite part of the painting process? Most challenging part?

CW: My favorite part is the beginning of the painting/drawing, making the very first marks is always exciting, especially for something large-scale. The most challenging part is knowing when the work is complete. My work has to be in this in-between stage of satiated and hungry, so it can’t look too ‘finished’.

TG: What or where do you find your most unconventional inspiration?

CW: I love a good revenge movie. It’s not obvious but some of my works are payback paintings.

TG: What are you listening to in your studio? Who is your most listened to artist on Spotify?

CW: I’m currently listening to I Trawl the Megahertz by Prefab Sprout, a beautiful and rather melancholic album. I think my most listened-to albums are the soundtrack to Jacques Demy’s Les Demoiselles de Rochefort by Michel Legrand, Cristina’s Doll in the Box, and Fever to Tell by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.