Overview

Astra Huimeng Wang creates events and circumstances to study the manufacture of truth and identities, collaborating extensively with orchestras, poets, actors, and sometimes strangers. In her diverse practice across media, 21 people tattooed different words onto their bodies and collectively formed a short poem of hers; a choir sang and chanted variations of Ode to Joy in security cages; a piano was shot 400 times in the California desert; and a three-day chocolate fountain party attended by hundreds went terribly wrong as intended. Wang’s work draws inspiration from literature, cinema, and her own biomedical background, with recurrent elements of desire and conflict, and a lingering sense of dark comedy which foreshadows a crisis in the human condition.

 

Wang received her M.F.A. in Studio Art from San Francisco Art Institute and B.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She has received fellowships and held residencies at MacDowell, Millay Arts, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and Wilhardt & Naud, among others. Selected exhibitions and performances include those at Make Room (Los Angeles), Woaw Gallery (Hong Kong), Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (San Francisco), the Pennsylvania State University, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Works
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, I Have Been Awake and I Have Slept, 2025
    I Have Been Awake and I Have Slept, 2025
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, In the Grand Scheme of Things, 2025
    In the Grand Scheme of Things, 2025
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, Thank You for Coming Home, 2025
    Thank You for Coming Home, 2025
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, A Continuum of Positively Captivating Behavioral Expectations, 2022
    A Continuum of Positively Captivating Behavioral Expectations, 2022
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, Beneath a Dreamy Chinese Moon, Where Love Is Like a Haunting Tun, 2022
    Beneath a Dreamy Chinese Moon, Where Love Is Like a Haunting Tun, 2022
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, Crowd 3, 2022
    Crowd 3, 2022
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, Crowd 4, 2022
    Crowd 4, 2022
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, Puppet Lovers, 2022
    Puppet Lovers, 2022
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, Safely Back, 2022
    Safely Back, 2022
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, Some Combination of Skill and Luck, I Think, Will Get Us Through, 2022
    Some Combination of Skill and Luck, I Think, Will Get Us Through, 2022
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, The Secret Dramas of the East Begin with a Love Philtre and End with a Death Poison, 2022
    The Secret Dramas of the East Begin with a Love Philtre and End with a Death Poison, 2022
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, We Were Always Loyal to Lost Causes, 2022
    We Were Always Loyal to Lost Causes, 2022
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, You Remember the Story of the Man Who Believed That He Had the Princess of China Shut up in a Bottle. It Was a Form of Insanity. He Was Cured of It, But As Soon As He Ceased to be Mad He Became Merely Stupid, 2022
    You Remember the Story of the Man Who Believed That He Had the Princess of China Shut up in a Bottle. It Was a Form of Insanity. He Was Cured of It, But As Soon As He Ceased to be Mad He Became Merely Stupid, 2022
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, To Have Still the Things You Had Before (After Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale), 2021
    To Have Still the Things You Had Before (After Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale), 2021
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, Ode to Orderly Joy, 2019
    Ode to Orderly Joy, 2019
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, This Might Not Be the Darkest Time of Your Life…or it Might!, 2019
    This Might Not Be the Darkest Time of Your Life…or it Might!, 2019
  • Astra Huimeng Wang, A Beginner's Guide to the Art of Throwing the Perfect Chocolate Fountain Party, 2016
    A Beginner's Guide to the Art of Throwing the Perfect Chocolate Fountain Party, 2016
Exhibitions
News
Press