If the beach and proliferation of wildflowers in Malibu aren’t enough of a diversion this spring, a new exhibit has opened at Malibu City Hall guaranteed to delight. “Painting the Sky: The Kites of Tyrus Wong” opened Sunday with rave reviews from those attending.
Wong, who recently died in December at 106 years old, spent the last 40 years of his retirement building fantastical kites that are being showcased at City Hall. Displayed in the building’s atrium, hung as if airborne, you’ll see kites of all shapes and sizes. Meticulously hand-crafted out of bamboo, string and ripstock nylon, the kites depict birds, pandas, butterflies, bugs, dragonflies, aliens and a spectacular 22-foot-long centipede made of at least 20 bamboo ribs that was actually shortened by more than half the size to fit in the exhibition space.
Each kite was designed, hand painted and assembled by Wong who spent his working career as an animator at Disney, among other studios. He’s credited for changing the look of animation with his breathtaking nature scenes in “Bambi,” which defined the iconic movie’s tone and setting. As a Chinese-American artist working in animation, his contributions to the art went mostly unrecognized by the general public until later years. In 2001, Wong received the high honor of being named a Disney Legend — joining the likes of Annette Funicello and Julie Andrews.
When Wong retired 40 years ago he took up kite making. On for four decades, Wong came to Santa Monica from his home in Sunland to fly his hand-made creations.
Photographer Sara Jane Boyers, who chronicled Wong and whose photographs are also on display, explained, “Everyone said you have to come out to the beach and see Tyrus. I photographed him for the last 10 years of his life.
“I went to Santa Monica beach and here is this community of people, these amazing kites up in the sky, and I fell in love,” she continued. “His kites are full of artistry. I wanted to photograph the motion. These kites are full of life — full of animation. When they’re up in the air and you see them swoop and wave then drop suddenly — and the team that came to support him — it’s magic. Children would come by and sit and listen to him and watch. It’s a magical moment. We don’t have many of those these days.”
Boyers is writing a children’s book about Wong and his kites.
Wong’s own childhood was difficult. At the age of nine and speaking no English, his father took him from his home in China to escape political persecution, never to see his mother and sister again. In 1920, he spent a month at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, describing it like a prison fearing he would never be reunited with his father. One of his three daughters, Kim Wong explained, “In those days, you did what you think is best to survive.”
Nephew Phillip Young flew kites with Wong for 15 years.
“He told me he liked flying kites because it made him feel like a boy,” Young recalled. “He had a sense of delight. He was a special person. I saw him a week-and-a-half before he passed away and he asked me, ‘When are we going to fly kites again?’ That was important for him.”
Wong’s doctor Edwin Jacobs described how, at age 100, Wong proudly shared his age with everyone.
“He was grinning from ear to ear,” Jacobs recalled. “He was always happy. He had to tell everyone in the office he was 100 years old. He delighted in being that age.”
Kim Wong detailed how on some of the bigger kites her father would design a main line and then have others attached, as many as 24, so it would look like a flock of birds.
“Sometimes, people walking on the beach would think they were real birds,” she described. When speaking of his creativity, Wong explained her father didn’t allow coloring books, saying, “He didn’t think you could be creative filling in someone else’s drawing.”
Artist Alan Roderick-Jones, who helped mount the exhibition as a commissioner of the Malibu Cultural Arts Commission remarked, “He created these beautiful works of art you’ll never see anywhere else. I admire that he was an artist up to his dying days.”
A documentary on Tyrus Wong was aired Sunday at the opening reception and will be broadcast later this year on PBS. The kites and photographs are on display until July 28.
