Paula Wilson American mixed-media artist (born 1975)
Paula Wilson (born December 17, 1975) is an African-American mixed-media artist creating works examining women's identities through a lens of cultural history. She uses sculpture, collage, painting, installation, and printmaking methods such as silkscreen, lithography, and woodblock. In 2007, Wilson moved from Brooklyn , New York , to Carrizozo , New Mexico (population 996), where she currently lives and works with her woodworking partner Mike Lagg.
Early life
Paula Wilson was born in Chicago , and grew up in Hyde Park on the south side of the city, where her father, William Julius Wilson , was a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago . Her mother, Beverly Ann Wilson, is an artist and bookbinder.
Life and work
Wilson is known for her monumental and tactile work describing narratives and environments that fit her experience as a biracial black woman. She reimagines art historical tropes and inserts versions of herself into the landscape and canon. Shifting between graphic and painterly representations, she builds narratives by collapsing pictorial planes. Wilson’s work is anchored in self-portrait , printmaking , installation, and collage . She prints images with wood blocks, silkscreens , intaglio, and monotypes ; layers acrylic, oil, and spray paint; shoots videos inserting 2-D work into the landscape; she cuts, glues, and stitches to make colorful, dense assemblages. Her works often burst from their wall or frame, reflecting a constant re-assembly of lived experiences: black and white, urban and rural, traditional and contemporary, singular and collective.
Wilson is co-founder of the artist organizations MoMAZoZo (founded in 2010) and the Carrizozo Artist in Residency (AIR)(founded in 2016).
Academia
Wilson was a Visiting Critic at Yale School of Art from 2005 to 2007 and an assistant professor at Columbia University School of the Arts from 2007 to 2008. In 2015. she served as the Louis D. Beaumont Artist-in-Residence & Visiting Assistant Professor in the College and Graduate School of Art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis . She has been a visiting artist at many institutions and universities nationally.
Visiting Artist, Boston University , Boston, Massachusetts, 2016
Visiting Lecturer, Pratt Institute , Brooklyn, New York, 2017
Visiting Lecturer, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2017
Visiting Artists, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 2020
Visiting Artist, Oberlin College , Oberlin, Ohio, 2020 Solo exhibitions
Source:
2000–What's So Personal , The Butcher Shop, Chicago, Illinois
2006–Paintings and Drawings from the Hanno Valley , Galleria Suzy Shammah, Milan, Italy
2008–The Stained Glass Ceiling , Bellwether Gallery , New York, New York
2010–First Story , The Fabric Workshop and Museum , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2014–"Undress , Center for Contemporary Arts, Spector Ripps Project Space, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2015–Back it Up , Museum Blue, St. Louis, Missouri
2015–Salty & Fresh , Cherry & Lucic, Portland, Oregon
2017–Salty & Fresh , Emerson Dorsch Gallery , Miami, Florida
2017–Paula Wilson: The Backward Glance , Bemis Center for Contemporary Art , Omaha, Nebraska
2018–FLOORED , HOLDING Contemporary, Portland, Oregon
2018–PIECESCAPE , Visitor Welcome Center, Los Angeles, California
2018–Spread Wild: Pleasures of the Yucca , Smack Mellon , Brooklyn, New York
2018–The Light Becomes You , Denny Dimin Gallery, New York, New York
2019–Entangled , 516 ARTS, Albuquerque, New Mexico
2022–Be Wild. Bewilder , Emerson Dorsch Gallery , Miami, Florida Selected group exhibitions
Source:
2000–Young Love , Mapreed Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2001–Brat(Wurst): A Show of Chicago Artists , Vox Populi , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2002–Signs , Public Art Installation, Chicago, Illinois
2004–Hungry Eyes, First Year MFA Exhibition , Columbia University, Ira D. Wallach Gallery, New York, New York
2004–After Goya , Leroy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University , Curated by Tomas Vu Daniel, New York, New York
2004–Past Perfect , Kantor/Feuer Gallery, New York, New York
2005–Recess: Images & Objects in Formation , Rush Gallery, Curated by Derek Adams, New York, New York
2005–MFA Thesis Exhibition , Studebaker Building , Curated by Jeffrey Uslip, New York, New York
2006–Frequency , Studio Museum in Harlem , New York, New York
2006–The Manhattan Project , Fred Snitzer Gallery, Miami, Florida
2006–Turn the Beat Around , Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, New York
2007–Black Alphabet, contexts of Contemporary African American Art , Zacheta National Gallery of Art , Warsaw, Poland
2007–Horizon , EFA Gallery, Curated by David Humphrey, New York, New York
2007–Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970 , Spelman College Museum of Fine Art , Atlanta, Georgia
2009–Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970 , Contemporary Arts Museum Houston , Houston, Texas
2009–Collected. Propositions on the Permanent Collection , Studio Museum in Harlem , New York, New York
2009–A Decade of Contemporary American Printmaking: 1999–2009 , Tsingha University , Beijing, China
2009–While We Were Away , Sragow Gallery, New York, New York
2009–Carrizozo Artist's Show , Gallery 408, Carrizozo, New Mexico
2010–41st Collectors Show , Arkansas Art Center , Little Rock, Arkansas
2010–Defrosted: A Life of Walt Disney , Postmasters Gallery , New York, New York
2010–Art on Paper: The 41st Exhibition , Weatherspoon Art Museum , Greensboro, North Carolina
2011–The February Show , Ogilvy & Mather, New York, New York
2011–Art by Choice , Mississippi Museum of Art , Jackson, Mississippi
2012–Configured , Benrimon Contemporary, Curated By Teka Selman, New York, New York
2012–The Bearden Project , Studio Museum in Harlem , New York, New York
2013–Sanctify , Vincent Price Museum, Los Angeles, California
2013–I Am The Magic Hand , Sikkema Jenkins & Co, Organized by Josephine Halvorson , New York, New York
2015–DRAW: Mapping Madness , Inside – Out Art Museum, curated by Tomas Vu , Beijing, China 2014
2016–Visions Into Infinite Archives , SOMArts Cultural Center, curated by Black Salt Collective, San Francisco, California
2016–Residency , form & concept, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2016–Surface Area: Selections from the Permanent Collection , Studio Museum in Harlem , New York, New York
2017–The Young Years, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College , curated by Dayton Director Ian Berry, Saratoga Springs, New York
2017–The Unhomely , Denny Gallery, New York, New York
2017–Sunrise, Sunset , Emerson Dorsch Gallery , Miami, Florida
2019–20 and Odd: The 400-Year Anniversary of 1619 , curated by Kalia Brooks Nelson, Leroy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University , New York, New York
2019–In This Body of Mine: Strange Fire Collective at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design , Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2019–Fragment , Emerson Dorsch Gallery , Miami, Florida
2019–Contemporary Performance , curated by Kalup Linzy , Florida Museum of Photographic Art, Tampa, Florida Personal life
Wilson currently lives and works in Carrizozo, New Mexico with her partner, woodworker Mike Lagg.
Recognition
Wilson has been featured in publications such as Hyperallergic , Artforum , The New York Times ,The Brooklyn Rail ,The New Yorker .
Wilson received the Award of Distinction from Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts , in St. Louis in 2019. She has been awarded residencies at the Fabric Workshop and Museum (2009–2010), Vermont Studio Center , and the Giverny Residency from the Art Production Fund in Giverny , France . She has also received a place on the short list , Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize, Studio Museum in Harlem , 2007 and the Milovich Award in Painting, School of Art, Washington University, 1998.
References
↑ "Paula Wilson – 17 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy" . www.artsy.net . Retrieved March 11, 2017 .↑ "Southwest Contemporary – Studio Visit:Paula Wilson and Mike Lagg" . www.southwestcontemporary.com . May 24, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2020 .↑ "Demonstration: Paula Wilson & Mike Lagg, Intimate Restructuring" . Haystack Mountain School of Crafts . June 12, 2021. Archived from the original on August 29, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2022 .↑ "Paula Jane & Beverly Ann Wilson/ Daughter & Mother/Artist Books – Paula J Wilson" . paulajwilson.com . Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2022 .↑ "Paula Wilson" . Yale School of Art . Retrieved April 7, 2022 .↑ "Paula Wilson new Hammersley artist-in-residence" . University of New Mexico . Retrieved August 5, 2021 .↑ "Welcome to MoMAZoZo" . www.momazozo.com . Retrieved May 17, 2020 .↑ "Carrizozo Arts – Carrizozo Artist in Residence – Carrizozo AIR" . www.carrizozoarts.com . Retrieved May 17, 2020 .[ permanent dead link ] ↑ "Yale School of Art – Paula Wilson, Critic" . www.art.yale.edu . Retrieved May 23, 2020 .↑ "Sam Fox School – Faculty Portfolios – Paula Wilson" . www.samfoxschool.wustl.edu . Retrieved May 23, 2020 .↑ "Visiting Artist: Paula Wilson" . www.bu.edu . Retrieved May 23, 2020 .↑ "Fall Season of Exciting Programming Launches at PAFA" . Pafa . September 8, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .↑ "Lecture: Paula Wilson" . www.cranbrookart.edu . November 7, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .↑ "Oberlin College Events – Mooning: Artist Lecture with Paula Wilson" . www.calendar.oberlin.edu/ . Retrieved May 23, 2020 .↑ "Paula Wilson" . www.paulajwilson.com . Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2020 .↑ "Cv – Paula J Wilson" . Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2017 .↑ "Galleria Suzy Shammah" .↑ "NYAB Event – Paula Wilson "The Stained Glass Ceiling" . www.nyartbeat.com . Retrieved March 11, 2017 .↑ "Center for Contemporary Arts | UNDRESS WITH PAULA WILSON – Santa Fe Gallery Association" . Santa Fe Gallery Association . Retrieved March 11, 2017 .[ permanent dead link ] ↑ "The bureau of reclamations" . The Santa Fe New Mexican . Retrieved March 11, 2017 .↑ "Behind and Beyond: Paula Wilson's "Back it Up" at Museum Blue" . St. Louis Magazine . April 17, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2017 .[ permanent dead link ] ↑ "Paula Wilson "Back it Up" . Museum Blue . Retrieved March 11, 2017 .↑ "Cherry | Lucic" . cherryandlucic.com . Retrieved March 11, 2017 .↑ Dorsch, Brook. "Emerson Dorsch" . emersondorsch.com . Retrieved April 7, 2017 . ↑ "Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts : Exhibitions : Exhibitions : Paula Wilson: The Backward Glance" . www.bemiscenter.org . Archived from the original on September 5, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2017 .↑ "HOLDING Contemporary: FLOORED – Paula Wilson" . www.holdingcontemporary.com . Retrieved May 29, 2020 .↑ "Visitor Welcome Center: Paula Wilson – PIECESCAPE" . www.visitorwelcomecenter.org . Retrieved May 29, 2020 .↑ "Smack Mellon: Paula Wilson, Spread Wild: Pleasures of the Yucca" . www.smackmellon.org . September 29, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2020 .↑ "Denny Dimin Gallery: Paula Wilson – The Light Becomes You" . www.dennydimingallery.com . Archived from the original on October 28, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2020 .↑ "516 Arts: Paula Wilson: Entangled" . www.516arts.org . Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2020 .↑ "cv – Paula J Wilson" . paulajwilson.com . Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2017 .↑ "Paula Wilson" . Yale School of Art . Retrieved April 7, 2022 .↑ "Inside Out Art Museum" . www.ioam.org.cn . Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Tomas Vu:DRAW" . www.tomasvu.com . Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Temporary: Visions Into Infinite Archives at SOMArts" . www.temporaryartreview.com . January 29, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "AP: Visions Into Infinite Archives" . www.artpractical.com . Archived from the original on December 22, 2024. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "SOMArts Cultural Center" . www.us1.campaign-archive.com . Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "form & concept: Residency" . www.formandconcept.center . Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "The Studio Museum in Harlem: Surface Area" . www.studiomuseum.org . September 11, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Tang: The Young Years" . www.tang.skidmore.edu . Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Denny Gallery: The Unhomely" . www.dennydimingallery.com . Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Emerson Dorsch Gallery: Sunrise, Sunset" . www.emersondorsch.com . Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Hyperallergic: Best of 2017: Our Top 20 Exhibitions Across the United States" . www.hyperallergic.com . December 21, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Columbia University School of Arts: 20 and Odd: The 400-Year Anniversary of 1619" . www.arts.columbia.edu . Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Strange Fire: Exhibition: In This Body of Mine" . www.strangefirecollective.com . Retrieved May 29, 2020 .↑ "Strange Fire Collective" . www.miad.edu/21222-2 . September 12, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Home - Emerson Dorsch" . Retrieved October 12, 2023 .↑ "Strange Fire: Fragment" . www.emersondorsch.com . Retrieved May 29, 2020 .↑ "FMoPA: Contemporary Performance" . www.fmopa.org . April 7, 2019. Retrieved May 29, 2020 .↑ "Paula Wilson - Emerson Dorsch" . emersondorsch.com . Retrieved April 7, 2022 .↑ "Zozo's Petals" . www.newmexicomagazine.org . August 18, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2022 .↑ "A Stained-Glass World Where Women Are Worshipped" . www.hyperallergic.com . May 2, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Artforum: Paula Wilson – BELLWHETHER" . www.artforum.com . January 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Artforum: Paula Wilson – Paintings and Drawings from the Hanno Valley" . www.artforum.com . June 16, 2006. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Artforum: iris yirei hu and ivan forde" . www.artforum.com . October 7, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ Smith, Roberta (June 27, 2013). "The New York Times: I Am the Magic Hand and Antony: The Cut" . The New York Times . Retrieved May 30, 2020 . ↑ "The Brooklyn Rail: Salty/Fresh: Paula Wilson's House of Art" . www.brooklynrail.org . May 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .↑ "Sam Fox School: 2019 AWARDS FOR DISTINCTION" . www.samfoxschool.wustl.edu . Archived from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .
