WILMER WILSON IV: Slim...you don't got the juice

WILMER WILSON IV Slim…you don’t got the juice 31 January 2019 – 16 March 2019

Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC

Installation View, 2019 Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC

Slim‌ you don’t got the juice presents multidisciplinary departures from familiar modes of figurative representation, as they have evolved in the realm of photographic discourse. Wilmer Wilson IV has developed strategies of redaction and annotation in his work that begin to destabilize the norms of making and viewing portraiture through visual, material, and technical manipulation. An exploration into the complex renderings of individual subject-hood versus object-hood in portraiture, the artist has conceived of a stapled-surface-as-viewing-device that mediates image with material. The device is manifest in a series of staple works that almost fully shroud the photographic subjects beneath dense fields of metal fasteners. The austere, randomized application of the staples onto the surface of each portrait results in a resistance of visual penetration from many angles, complicating access to the underlying figures and deconstructing the voyeuristic inclinations of the viewer.

A set of large-scale ink drawings, in which small marks accumulate into compact, organ-like clusters, further interrogate the role of density in forming and describing a surface. In conversation with the staple works, they become almost speculative veils or blueprints for coating and protecting the image. Scaled wall images of figures taken while Wilson was moving at high speed are presented in the second gallery. The blurred images erode the details of their depicted subjects, and begin to confuse the function of monumentality and the narratives of value in public space. Wilson’s project prompts consideration of how we, as viewers, might conceive of portraiture in a manner that points to bodies without reducing them to mere objects of voyeuristic energy.

Wilmer Wilson IV is a recipient of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Fellowship and an American Academy in Rome Affiliated Fellowship. Select institutions that have presented his work include The New Museum, New York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA; Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; American University Museum, Washington, DC; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; and In Flanders Fields Museum, Ieper, Belgium.

Untitled ($25), 2018 Staples and pigment print on wood 48 x 48 x 2 1/4 in.

Colloquialism IV, 2018 Ink on paper, mounted on wood 96 x 48 x 2 1/4 in.

Colloquialism I, 2018 Ink on paper, mounted on wood 96 x 48 x 2 1/4 in.

WISH, 2018 Staples and pigment print on wood 48 x 96 x 2 1/4 in.

WISH (detail), 2018

Installation View, 2019 Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC

END, 2018 Staples and pigment print on wood 48 x 96 x 2 1/4 in.

END (detail), 2018

WILMER WILSON IV END (detail), 2018

SEASONS, 2018 Staples and pigment print on wood 48 x 96 x 2 1/4 in.

Colloquialism II, 2018 Ink on paper, mounted on wood 96 x 48 x 2 1/4 in.

Colloquialism III, 2018 Ink on paper, mounted on wood 96 x 48 x 2 1/4 in.

Installation View, 2018 Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC

Installation View, 2019 Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC

Host, 2018 Staples and pigment print on wood 48 x 192 x 2 1/4 in.

Host (detail), 2018

RID UM, 2018 Staples and pigment print on wood 48 x 96 x 2 1/4 in.

RID UM (detail), 2018

Untitled (Slim‌), 2018 Ink on paper, mounted on wood 48 x 48 x 2 1/4 in.

BIOGRAPHY

WILMER WILSON IV Born in Richmond, VA 1989 University of Pennsylvania, MFA, 2015 Howard University, BFA, 2012 Lives and works in Philadelphia, PA

“Venturing Out of the Heart of Darkness,” Harvey B. Gantt Center for African

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

American Arts and Culture, Charlotte, NC 2019 2017 2013

“Slim… you don’t got the juice,” Susan Inglett

2014

of American Art, Bentonville, AR

“Fire Bill’s Spook Kit,” In Flanders Fields

“Retreat,” Valerie Carberry Gallery and

Museum, Ieper, Belgium

Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, IL

"Faust in the City," ConnerSmith, Washington,

“Performing Portraiture,” Museum of Fine

D.C. “Lagan,” NLS, Kingston, Jamaica

2012

“State of the Art,” Crystal Bridges Museum

Gallery, NYC

Arts, Boston, MA 2013

“Pay What You Owe Me and Vomit What

“The FOREVER Aftermath,” Artisphere,

You Ate,” Charles Addams Gallery,

Arlington, VA

Philadelphia, PA

“The Airborne Leaflet Campaign,” with

“We Speak the Souls of Ancestors,” D.C.

Chukwuma Agubokwu, Corcoran Gallery of Art,

Commission on the Arts and Humanities,

Washington, D.C. “Domestic Exchange,” Conner Contemporary

Washington, D.C. 2012

Art, Washington, D.C.

“Loop,” Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn, NY “Campaign Re/Form,” Greater Reston Arts Center, Reston, VA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

“Take It to the Bridge,” Corcoran Gallery of 2019

“Bodies of Knowledge,” New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA

2018

2017

Art, Washington, D.C. 2011

Strathmore Hall, Bethesda, MD

Carrion-Murayari and Alex Gartenfeld, New

“BITE: Identity and Humor,” Greater Reston

Museum, NYC

Arts Center, Reston, VA

"Third Space,” Birmingham Museum of Art,

“80th Annual Student Exhibition,” Howard

Birmingham, AL “Person of the Crowd,” The Barnes

University Art Gallery, Washington, D.C. 2010

Foundation, Philadelphia, PA 2016

“Fine Artists in Residence 2011,”

“New Museum Triennial,” curated by Gary

“Silos,” American University Museum,

Bethesda, MD 2009

Washington, D.C.; traveled to Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago, IL

“Common Bond,” Strathmore Hall, “78th Annual Student Exhibition,” Blackburn Center Gallery, Washington, D.C.

2008

“That Which Cannot Be,” Vox Populi,

“The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards,” White Columns Gallery, NYC

Philadelphia, PA “Darkwater Revival: After Terry Adkins,”

PERFORMANCES

Arthur Ross Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 2015

“Down to Earth,” PennDesign, Brussels,

2017

Belgium

“Channel,” Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA

2015

"Portrait with Hydrogen Peroxide Strips,”

BIOGRAPHY

WILMER WILSON IV National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. “Liberty Walk,” various locations, Philadelphia, PA

Dead Seagrass: A Few Highlights from the

“Priestess Faust Walk,” Museum of Fine Arts,

2018 New Museum Triennial,” ARTnews, 12

Boston, MA “Lick Lather,” PARTICIPANT, INC, NYC “Performing Franklin Furnace,” PARTICIPANT, INC, NYC 2013

"Faust in the City,” ConnerSmith and various locations, Washington, D.C.

2012

"Henry ‘Box’ Brown: FOREVER,” various locations, Washington, D.C. “From My Paper Bag Colored Heart,” Conner Contemporary Art, Washington, D.C. “I Voted/Henry ‘Box’ Brown/Legalize” VOLTA NY, NYC

2011

February 2018.

Battaglia, Andy. “Rollercoasters, Crumbling Walls, and

"Bandage/I Voted,” (e)merge, Washington, D.C. “Blank Shot,” Hillyer Art Space, Washington,

February 2018.

Sheets, Hilarie M. “Meet Six Disrupters at the New Museum Triennial,” The New York Times, 2 February 2018.

Hawbaker, K.T. “10 must-see galleries at Expo Chicago,” Chicago Tribune, 13 September 2017.

Salisbury, Stephan. “That guy walking the streets of Philly with a TV? He’s Art. Others will follow,”

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 4 April 2017.

Wilson, Wilmer, IV, Mashinka Firunts and Ladi’Sasha Jones. “Fire Bill’s Spook Kit,” 2017.

Holmes, Heather. “Channelizer,” Artblog, 21 November 2016.

McShea, Hannah. “Wilmer Wilson IV and the Body

D.C.

Surface: Intersubjectivity and a Call to

“peel apart an orange,” Herman Maril Gallery,

Decenter the Decentered,” Exposé Magazine,

College Park, MD

2015.

Brown, A. Will. “Wilmer Wilson IV,” Studio

BIBLIOGRAPHY

International, 9 September 2015.

Crawford, Romi. “Retreat,” Richard Gray Gallery and

Brewer Ball, Katherine. “Katherine Brewer Ball in Conversation with Wilmer Wilson IV,” Critical

Correspondence, 18 February 2019.

Editors. “9 Art Events in New York This Week: Josephine Meckseper, Ian Cheng, Luchita Hurtado, and More,” ARTnews, 28 January 2019.

Jordan, Eliza. “Don’t Miss This at Untitled Art, Miami Beach 2018,” Whitewall, 6 December 2018.

Armstrong, Annie. “Wilmer Wilson IV Is Now Represented by Susan Inglett Gallery and Connersmith,” ARTnews, 08 November 2018.

Cotter, Holland. “New Museum Triennial Looks Great, but Plays It Safe,” The New York Times, 22 February 2018.

Budick Ariella. “New Museum Triennial: a chorus of dissenting voices,” The Financial Times, 23

Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2014.

Roulet, Laura and Jessica Bell. “Henry ‘Box’ Brown: FOREVER,” ConnerSmith, Washington, D.C., 2013.

Staff. “Black Artists: 30 Contemporary Artists Under 40 You Should Know,” Huffington Post, 26 February 2013.

Eisehbach, Ronit and Laanstra Welmoed. “5x5, a new curator-driven public art festival for Washington, D.C.,” Public Art Review, Fall/Winter 2012.

Weaver, A.M. “Am I Black Enough For You? Notes on Black Performance Art,” Artvoices Magazine, August 2012.

Chae, Julie. “Sealed and Delivered? Wilmer Wilson IV’s 5x5 Public Art Project in D.C.,” Arts in a

Changing America, 02 July 2012.

BIOGRAPHY

WILMER WILSON IV Smith, Matthew. “DCist Interview: Wilmer Wilson IV,”

DCist, 5 April 2012.

Steel, Rebecca. “At the Labyrinthine Volta Fair, a Few Standouts,” Gallerist NY, 12 March 2012.

Williams, Erin. “Young artist transforms himself by using ordinary items such as Post-its,” The Washington Post, 8 March 2012.

Wyma, Chloe. “13 Highlights of Volta New York,” Blouin ArtInfo, 9 March 2012.

Smith, Todd. “100 under 100: The New Southern Superstars of Southern Art,” The Oxford American, March 2012.

Lupiani, Alan. “(e)merge Art Fair,” Art Blog NYC, 28 September 2011.

Rousseau, Claudia. “Two Exhibits Shine with New Media and New Art,” Maryland Gazette, 10 August 2011.

2011

Strathmore Fine Artist in Residence, Bethesda, MD

2009

Special Talent Scholarship, Howard University, Washington, D.C.

2008

Laureate Scholarship, Howard University, Washington, D.C. Scholastic National Art & Writing Awards, Photography Portfolio Gold Key Award

LECTURES, PANELS AND WORKSHOPS 2015

“Performing Franklin Furnace,” Participant Inc., NYC

2014

“Pedagogies of Performance,” University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA Artist Talk, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2013

AFTERMATH: FORUM, Artisphere, Arlington, VA

PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

“An Online Conversation with NLS Kingston,” 21C Museum-Hotel, Louisville, KY

NLS, Kingston, Jamaica

Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL

Artist Talk, School of the Art Institute of

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville,

Chicago, Chicago, IL

AR

“An Online Conversation with Wilmer Wilson

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

IV,” NLS, Kingston, Jamaica

New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA

Performance Art Workshop, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA SUPERNOVA Forum, Artisphere, Arlington, VA

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES 2012 2017

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Fellowship, Philadelphia, PA

2014 2013

African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn, NY 2011

Art After Dark, Art Museum of the

Artist in Residence, In Flanders Fields

Americas, Washington, D.C.

Museum, Ieper, Belgium

BITE: Identity and Humor, Greater Reston

American Academy in Rome, University of

Arts Center, Reston, VA

Pennsylvania Affiliated Fellowship, Rome, Italy

Friday Night Eclectic, Strathmore Hall,

Films4Peace Commission Public Art Network Year in Review selection,

2012

Loop Artist Talk, Museum of Contemporary

Bethesda, MD 2010

A World in Which Many Worlds Fit, LOOP

NYC

Collective HQ, Washington, D.C.

NLS Kingston Summer Residency, Kingston,

VISION + afterimage, Studio Gallery,

Jamaica

Washington, D.C.

5x5 Public Art Commission, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, D.C.

WILMER WILSON IV: Slim…you don’t got the juice Publication © 2018 Susan Inglett Gallery NYC All Rights Reserved Design: Lily Ahern Published by: SUSAN INGLETT GALLERY 522 West 24 Street New York, New York 10011 212 647 9111 | info@inglettgallery.com No image or portion thereof may be copied, reproduced or electronically stored/transmitted without permission.

End pages: Across the blue concrete, red embers fly to me (diptych), 2018, Scalable wall vinyl

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