Warren King: Homecoming
Image Credit: Warren King, The Road Leads Home, 2024
Artist reception: Wednesday, June 24, 2026, 5-7 pm
Family histories, myth, and memories not only survive migration and cultural transplantation; they persist at the foundations of identity. Warren King’s sophisticated sculptures explore his family’s origins in Shaoxing, China, their journey to the suburbs of Wisconsin, and how he understands this displacement in light of his own Western upbringing. King’s sculptures often combine thematic and aesthetic elements from Chinese and Western traditions, masterfully working cardboard into near life-size figures and wall pieces that recall traditional lacquerware and woodcarving.
This exhibition originated at the James Watrous Gallery in Madison, Wisconsin, where it was co-curated by Jody Clowes and Warren King. The exhibition at Lynden is presented in collaboration with the Organization of Chinese Americans-Wisconsin. Dedicated to Wisconsin artists, the James Watrous Gallery is a program of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.
About the Artist
Warren King (b. 1970) is an American artist based in New York City. He deploys figurative sculpture, relief art, and installation to strengthen connections to the diasporas and communities to which he belongs, particularly his personal relationship to the people, histories, and myths of his Chinese ancestry. Most of his works are made from corrugated cardboard, although he has recently begun using other sculptural media.
King was born in Madison and raised In Muskego and Brookfield. He has also lived in California and Sweden. He received engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, and he is a recent recipient of the Alex J. Ettl Grant from the National Sculpture Society, as well as the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship for Craft/Sculpture.
