Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Albert [Abdul-Barr] Wang. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Albert [Abdul-Barr], appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
I am a conceptual artist based out of the Pasadena area and will be attending the MFA studio art program at ArtCenter College of Design this fall. I just moved last week from the Salt Lake City, Utah area to here and for me, this has been a huge transitional phase as I had to find an apartment within a few days and procure furniture, supplies, technical equipment, art studio materials, art and research books, and assets for everyday living. As I had few friends, mostly from CalArts and my new roommate, I found it challenging to shift to the Los Angeles lifestyle and pace abruptly.
Another risk will be the shift within my own studio practice. As much of my undergraduate work at the University of Utah where I got my BFA in photography was overtly sociopolitical, I look forward to exploring new topics such as digital abstraction, hip-hop, glitch feminism, and critical race theory soon within the loci of ArtCenter’s environs. I look forward to engaging with new communities as I become a full-time Los Angeles artist and resident.
Albert [Abdul-Barr], love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I got into the art world by “pure accident.” Originally I had wanted to become an art critic or art writer back around 2005-2006 and I began to execute conceptual interviews with folks within the contemporary art world as a long-term project. Eventually these verbal portraits became an art project and ended up with a one-day solo show at Envoy Enterprises back in the day.
It has been a long journey but I managed to complete my BFA Honors degree in photography from the University of Utah this spring and now I am headed to embark on my MFA in studio art at ArtCenter. Quite the adventure and I could not done this without the help of invaluable friends such as Jaclyn Wright (she is coming out with a wonderful photo book from Gost soon!), Laurel Caryn, Patrick Winfield Vogel, Chunbum Park, Justin Serulneck, my Pasadena roommate (anonymous), my mother Ruey, Norman Klein, Ei Arakawa, Andrea Nhuch, Sumire Skye Taniai, Madison Donnelly, Andrea Champlin, my online friends in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and other countless people. Being in the art world has revolved around these communities key to the development of one’s own studio practice and praxis.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I applied to eleven MFA programs and managed to eke out two acceptances due to the competitive nature amongst potential MFA candidates. Even back then I was not sure where I would fit in but after some discussion and thought, I decided on ArtCenter as my final choice.
I have not forgotten the many hours I spent putting together my portfolios and essays for each program I wanted to try to enter. Honestly I did not expect to get into any MFA program right after completion of my BFA degree especially since my art practice has been evolving rapidly. The interviews with faculty over Zoom were intense too.
As a Taiwanese-American contemporary artist, I had faced a lot of systemic racism (anti-Asian and anti-blackness) and social ostracism particularly in the Utah art scene in various places there before I moved. So I look forward to engaging with the Los Angeles community for continuing my art practice and future path.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Wow, this ought to be a fun question to answer… I guess that I could subset some of the research materials I have been mired within lately. Here is a shortlist of books I recommend.
1) Rachel Kushner’s The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020 (Scribner)
2) Hito Steyerl’s Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War (Verso)
3) Alison Elizabeth Taylor’s The Sum of It (DelMonico/D.A.P.)
4) Taryn Simon’s Rear Views, A Star-Forming Nebula, and the Department of Foreign Propoganda: The Works of Taryn Simon (Tate)
5) Howie Chen’s Godzilla: Asian American Arts Network (Primary Information)
6) Bridget Cooks and Sarah Watson’s The Black Index (Hirmer Publishers)
7) Mungo Thomson and Aram Moshayedi’s Mungo Thomson: Mail (Inventory Press)
8) Octavia Butler’s Fledgling (Grand Central Publishing)
9) Naomi Klein’s No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies (Picador)
and 10) Gilles Deleuze’s The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque (University of Minnesota Press)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://albertabdulbarrwang.art/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/albertabdulbarrwang/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM65Li0n-kXJqpWmt4ETqUg
Image Credits
Albert [Abdul-Barr] Wang