Bohill Wong; disabled artist created works of whimsy

Bohill Wong of West Roxbury, a mentally disabled artist whose depictions of snakes in high heels and other sassy out-of-the-ordinary scenarios drew national attention and a fervid local following, died Sept. 10 at Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester of pneumonia. He was 70.

Mr. Wong, who had the mental capacity of a fifth-grader, worked for 24 years at Gateway Arts in Brookline Village, run by the private nonprofit Vinfen Corp. and specializing in ''outside art" created by artists without formal training. Mr. Wong was the first to have a single-artist show of drawings, paintings, and crafts at Gateway, in 1994.

''Bohill was Mr. Gateway as far as I am concerned," said his brother Richard of East Falmouth. ''I am very proud of him. He was a great guy -- very proud and independent. Art was something he enjoyed the most and was praised for. He always felt like number one."

Born in Hong Kong in 1934, Mr. Wong was raised by relatives before moving to the United States when he was 34. After living for several years with his mother, the late Rose Oie SooHoo, he entered a nursing home in Roxbury. While there, he drew on any scrap of paper he could find. He was discovered there in 1979 by Gateway Arts.

''Bohill processes life through visual art," painter Stephen DeFronzo said in a 1994 Boston Globe article on Mr. Wong. ''That's what makes him an artist. When he first came to this country from Hong Kong in the '50s, everything in advertising and popular art had become anthropomorphized. I think that's where it came from. I'm sure he did not draw fruits with legs in Hong Kong."

Mr. Wong flourished at Gateway Arts. The subjects of his drawings and watercolors were daffy and whimsical, often involving inanimate objects dressed for a night on the town. Ducks in evening dresses, as well as vegetables dancing, were familiar fare for Mr. Wong. Chinese landscapes also appeared in his paintings.

He also created sculptures and designed art for a variety of objects, from mugs and T-shirts to furniture. His work sold well at Gateway's shop, where 60 percent of the sale price goes to the artist and 40 percent goes to buy supplies and materials for the shop.

''He was someone who had a humorous, witty, and sensitive interpretation of the world and shared it with everyone," said Mona Thaler, marketing and public relations director at Gateway Arts. ''His life may have had its challenges, but he made you feel glad to know him. He had this incredibly powerful way of communicating that through his art. Who knows what inspires anyone, but he had some special spirit that he was born with."

Mr. Wong's work has been shown widely, at the Berenberg Gallery in Boston, the Fuller Museum of Art in Brockton, and the Very Special Arts Gallery in Washington, D.C. In New York, his work has been shown at the Cavin Morris Gallery, the Outsider Art Fair, the Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center, and the Margaret Bodell Gallery. A biography of Mr. Wong, produced by Marty Ostrow on WGBH's Greater Boston Arts, won a New England Emmy in 1997.

''Like any beloved, well-known artist, he will be remembered through his work," said Rae Edelson, director of Gateway Arts. ''We celebrate his life, his wit, his incredible spirit, and his 24-year career at Gateway. As Bohill would say, 'You too wonderful. I do the right thing.' We say that of him."

In addition to his brother, Mr. Wong leaves two other brothers, Warren of Needham and Edward of Hawaii.

A memorial service will be held at 7 tonight in the Wing Fook Funeral Home in Boston.

Gateway Arts will pay tribute to Mr. Wong's passion for art and fashion at a 7 p.m. fashion show in his honor at the studio on Oct. 21 as part of an exhibition reception from 6 to 8 p.m.