Born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown, painter Martin Wong made New York City’s Lower East Side his adopted home. From 1978 until his death in 1999, Wong also collected art and antiques, notably the world’s largest assembly of graffiti art. Donated by him to the Museum of the City of New York in 1994, his archive consists of hundreds of works on paper and canvas and photographs documenting this vibrant ephemeral art form made by outsiders learning their craft on the streets. City as Canvas exhibits many of these works, some by Keith Haring, Lady Pink and Lee Quiñones, for the first time.

Museum of the City of New York, 4 February – 24 August 2014