Vivian Wang - City Kids Limited 2019 - Sofa Chicago & Habatat Prime
Three Unique Works in the Series - Two Available Now

Mini Cape, 2019 23 x 11 x 18 inches Cast glass, Stoneware, Steel Base $14,800	Mini Argyle 2019 22.5 x 111 x 8 inches Cast glass, Stoneware, Steel Base  $14,800

- Original Drawings below -

CITY KIDS - Children of the 50’s

Why children of the 50’s?   Because I was a child of the 50’s.  This is my story and these are my memories.

Born in Shanghai, I emigrated with my parents first to Vancouver, Canada and then, in 1953, to Pacific Grove, California. I was in grade school then and already fascinated with the American way of life, especially the American way of dressing. I desperately wanted to wear American clothes so that I might assimilate as soon as I possibly could.

My mother still wore her Cheongsam, the traditional slim fitting dress with a mandarin collar, while I began to dress American, happily sporting my new starched poufy dresses with layers of crinolines. All around me were boys and girls dressed as kids did in America in the 1950s and I wanted to be one of them. This was an important period in my life and I fondly remember what everyone wore. These two sculptures were inspired by my memories of that time.

“Mini Cape” shows a young girl in a coat I always dreamed of owning as a child.  Though I had always wanted a bright red coat, my conservative parents made me wear a dull brown coat instead. The grey pleated shoulder cape and black trim (on red) was a very fashionable style for kids in post-war America.

“Mini Argyle” portrays a little boy with a bowl cut hairdo. Remember Buster Brown? He is wearing a blue blazer, his Sunday best, with a white shirt and tie. Looking almost like a formal school uniform, this was very popular style in the 50’s. He has dressed himself in his typical Fair Isle (argyle) sweater vest, not realizing, or perhaps not caring, that the vest is too long for the blazer.

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