New York-based Supreme‘s week 7 drop for fall 2019 includes a collaboration with the estate of Chinese American artist Martin Wong. In a shout out to Supreme’s newest location, Wong was born and raised in the city of San Francisco.
The eight ball-themed capsule collection consists of two Rayon button-down shirts, a short-sleeve shirt, a long-sleeve t-shirt, three t-shirts, two skateboard decks and a beanie
Wong was born in 1946 and after he graduated from Humboldt State University, he provided graphics and sets as needed for performance art troupes The Cockettes and Angels of Light.
Wong moved to New York City in 1978 where he ended up settling in Manhattan’s Loisaida neighborhood in 1982. He discovered he was HIV positive in 1994 and subsequently returned to his place of birth for treatment. He passed away at the age of 53 from AIDS-related illness in 1999.
In the final years of his live, he began a series of work inspired by San Francisco’s Chinatown neighborhood where he grew up. At the same time, he and his mother collected and building an impressive collection of antiques.
Reflecting on his work, Wong’s estate curator, Barry Blinderman, explained “[Wong] charted a world of unquenchable desire: the steadily burning flame of unrequited love, the junkie’s endless craving for oblivion, the poet’s wheel of misfortune, the alchemist or astrologer’s quest for meaning in the elements and stars.”
Prices for Wong’s capsule range from $40 for a beanie up to $158 for the rayon shirt. The collection will launch on November 14, 2019 on supremenewyork.com at 11:00 AM EST in North American and 11:00 AM BST in Western Europe. The capsule will also be sold at Supreme’s Brooklyn, Los Angeles, New York, London and Paris stores at 11:00 AM.
Check out the gallery below along with a Charlie Ahearn documentary examining some of the work he created while living in New York.
