WilliamWILEY
William T. Wiley, 43 Years Later, Mole Toe Benny, Returns aka Wiley
05.2013–06.2013
William T. Wiley, 43 Years Later, Mole Toe Benny, Returns aka Wiley
05.2013–06.2013
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Giorgio Marconi e William T. Wiley, Ph. Enrico Cattaneo
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William Wiley
Blind Project, 1969
Wood and metal
40 x 150 x 152 cm
Blind Project, 1969
Wood and metal
40 x 150 x 152 cm
Press Release
William T. Wiley
43 Years Later, Mole Toe Benny, Returns aka Wiley
Opening: May 27, 2013
May 28 – July 26, 2013
43 Years Later, Mole Toe Benny, Returns aka Wiley
Opening: May 27, 2013
May 28 – July 26, 2013
The Marconi Foundation is pleased to present an exhibition by the American artist William T. Wiley featuring works from the late Sixties, as well as a selection of his most recent work.
As the title suggests, the exhibition, held on both floors of the Marconi Foundation, will take place forty-three years after Wiley’s second European solo show that was organised in Milan in 1971 at Studio Marconi.
A precocious talent in his youth, William Wiley had a two-person exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art before earning his undergraduate degree from the California School of Fine Art (later The San Francisco Art Institute) in 1961.
He began making art when abstract expressionism ruled the art world, but this artist soon developed a style all his own.
From the beginning of his career, his work has entered permanent collections of institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Eindhoven’s Van Abbemuseum.
As the title suggests, the exhibition, held on both floors of the Marconi Foundation, will take place forty-three years after Wiley’s second European solo show that was organised in Milan in 1971 at Studio Marconi.
A precocious talent in his youth, William Wiley had a two-person exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art before earning his undergraduate degree from the California School of Fine Art (later The San Francisco Art Institute) in 1961.
He began making art when abstract expressionism ruled the art world, but this artist soon developed a style all his own.
From the beginning of his career, his work has entered permanent collections of institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Eindhoven’s Van Abbemuseum.
His early work helped to establish California’s Funk Art movement that began in 1967 with an exhibition curated by Peter Selz at the University Art Museum of the University of California at Berkeley.
But over time the work has shown a lyricism and stylistic elegance that outshines the provocative bravura of Funk Art. Along with humor, a deeper look at Wiley’s work may reveal a consciousness that includes political issues such as Global Warming.
This irreverent art can seem spontaneous and casual, but the artist is deeply committed in each work to the overall meaning, often hidden in smart puns or turns of phrase and mixed with references to current culture.
One thread running throughout his oeuvre that has garnered near-universal admiration, and deservedly so, is his work in watercolour, where he combines fine, black, detailed drawing and luminous hues.
On the first floor of the Fondazione Marconi, works dating back to the late Sixties will be on display, including watercolours, installations and assemblages (Blind Project, 1969; You May Call the Shots, 1971; Sham Man Bag, 1971), canvases (Sea Markman’s Ship, 1971; Test Pattern, 1971), while on the second floor the most recent works will include major paintings depicting intricate abstract landscapes (Lament for the Garment Workers of Bangladesh, 2012) and a selection of watercolours realised between 2009 and 2012.
On this occasion the Quaderno della Fondazione Marconi no. 10 will accompany the exhibition that will continue at Studio Marconi ’65, 17 via Tadino, with some works on paper and watercolours by William T. Wiley.
But over time the work has shown a lyricism and stylistic elegance that outshines the provocative bravura of Funk Art. Along with humor, a deeper look at Wiley’s work may reveal a consciousness that includes political issues such as Global Warming.
This irreverent art can seem spontaneous and casual, but the artist is deeply committed in each work to the overall meaning, often hidden in smart puns or turns of phrase and mixed with references to current culture.
One thread running throughout his oeuvre that has garnered near-universal admiration, and deservedly so, is his work in watercolour, where he combines fine, black, detailed drawing and luminous hues.
On the first floor of the Fondazione Marconi, works dating back to the late Sixties will be on display, including watercolours, installations and assemblages (Blind Project, 1969; You May Call the Shots, 1971; Sham Man Bag, 1971), canvases (Sea Markman’s Ship, 1971; Test Pattern, 1971), while on the second floor the most recent works will include major paintings depicting intricate abstract landscapes (Lament for the Garment Workers of Bangladesh, 2012) and a selection of watercolours realised between 2009 and 2012.
On this occasion the Quaderno della Fondazione Marconi no. 10 will accompany the exhibition that will continue at Studio Marconi ’65, 17 via Tadino, with some works on paper and watercolours by William T. Wiley.