Wilmer Wilson IV
WISH
2017
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Wilmer Wilson IV
WISH
2017
Physical Qualities
Staples and inkjet print (pigment-based) on plywood, 48 × 96 × 2 1/4 in. (121.9 × 243.8 × 5.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Purchase with exchange funds from the Pearlstone Family Fund and partial gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Object Number
2019.35
In this work, Wilmer Wilson IV rephotographed and enlarged a party flier depicting two figures wearing sunglasses. Using staples to adorn the image, which has been affixed to plywood, Wilson’s laborious process is an effort “to cope with the impermanence of things—like bodies, but also the fragments of everyday social life.” The work recalls how party fliers, typically used to promote hip-hop concerts, are stapled to wooden telephone poles across urban spaces. While the staples offer a visually compelling surface, the full image is somewhat difficult to decipher due to the metallic glare, suggesting both invisibility and hypervisibility. Through this act of shielding, Wilson has provided a means of protection to the Black people depicted in the original image.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2019; Susan Inglett Gallery
Fixing Pictures [working title]
How Do We Know the World?
The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century; Asma Naeem, Gamynne Guillotte, Hannah Klemm, Andrea Purnell. April 2023. Plate, pg 299.
