SFAA Spotlight | Al Wong

SF Artists Alumni

Join us online on August 4th, 2025 at 10:00 AM PT for SFAA Spotlight featuring Al Wong in conversation with Tanya Zimbardo.

SFAA Spotlight

SFAA Spotlight is featuring SFAI alumni in a series of online talks. There is a thread of "community" as a theme/relationality between artists featured.

Join us for a special SFAA Spotlight featuring SFAI alum and former faculty Al Wong (MFA 1972) in conversation with curator and writer Tanya Zimbardo.A native San Franciscan, Al Wong has spent over five decades creating art across a wide range of media—from film and installation to sculpture and drawing. His artistic journey began at the San Francisco Art Institute, where he earned his MFA and later returned as a faculty member. Wong also taught at Mills College and in the California State University system, shaping generations of artists.His work has been exhibited at major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the UC Berkeley Art Museum &amp; Pacific Film Archive. His art has toured widely across Europe, South America, and Japan.Wong is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the American Film Institute grant, National Endowment for the Arts grant, Guggenheim Fellowship, Flintridge Foundation Visual Artist Award, and most recently, the California Arts Council Legacy Individual Artist Fellowship. Now on View:Al Wong: Twin Peaks 📍 SFMOMA, Floor 1 Atrium 🗓️ April 26, 2025 – Summer 2026 💥 Free and open to the public 🔗 <a href="https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/al-wong-twin-peaks/" title="https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/al-wong-twin-peaks/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Exhibition page</a>Experience Wong’s 1977 film Twin Peaks—a mesmerizing journey around San Francisco’s topographical center—presented for the first time on a digital LED screen in SFMOMA’s Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Atrium. Restored in 16mm by the Pacific Film Archive and digitized for museum presentation, this conceptual meditation reflects SFMOMA’s commitment to Bay Area art.<h3> </h3>

About the Conversation:This discussion will explore Al Wong’s life in art, the evolution of his practice, and his reflections on teaching, experimentation, and legacy. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a pioneering voice in West Coast conceptual and experimental art. About Tanya Zimbardo:Tanya Zimbardo is a San Francisco-based curator and writer. She has featured Al Wong’s films in screening programs at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and Artist’s Television Access, and published an interview with the artist. Zimbardo has shown such SFAI alumni and faculty as Mauricio Ancalmo, Kota Ezawa, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, Mads Lynnerup, among others; She also curated the exhibition Bay Area Walls: Jenifer K Wofford currently on view at SFMOMA. She co-curated the forthcoming exhibition People Make This Place: SFAI Stories (July 26, 2025 – July 5, 2026). Select guest curated projects include Equilibrium: A Paul Kos Survey (di Rosa) and Organic Logic: Howard Fried, John Roloff, Mark Thompson (500 Capp Street Foundation) and Center of Gravity: Gunvor Nelson and Dorothy Wiley (SF Cinematheque). Over the past decade, she has organized screenings online and at a range of venues that feature artists films and videos by SFAI alumni like Lawrence Andrews, Mike Henderson, Toney W. Merritt, and has more recently published essays on Lynn Marie Kirby, Genevieve Quick, and an interview with Scott Stark.

SFAA Spotlight is a monthly online talk series featuring a San Francisco Art Institute alum on the first Monday of the month at 10 AM PT. Talks are recorded and available on our YouTube channel. Through these conversations, artists explore themes of community, connection, and artistic practice.🎥 Free with RSVP 🌐 Zoom link provided upon registration ❤️ A special thank you to our donors who make this program possible.Image credit banner: Al Wong

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SFAA Spotlight | Al Wong

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SFAA Spotlight | Al Wong

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