David G. Wilson
Springfield Gardens, New York
E-mail: Dwilson16@nyc.rr.com
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Liberty fleeing the downtrodden, observed
by the Union Acrylic on canvas |
Afrodite starled by the bust of Posse-don Acrylic on canvas
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| Anthropomorphoscape on the Hudson Acrylic on canvas
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Midnight Sheperdress Acrylic on canvas
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| We Dance
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Nostalgic Rythmin Acrylic on canvas
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| Flora Acrylic on canvas
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Geocondaphilia Acrylic on canvas |
David Gerard Wilson was born in December 1953 in Roseau, the Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. He immigrated to the United States in September of 1976 and began his studies at Manhattan College, Riverdale, Bronx. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and minored in foreign languages, Spanish and French, from York College of the City University of New York. He presently teaches Spanish and French at Martin Van Buren High School in Queens NY.
Unfortunately, the disapproval by his father, Henzie A. Wilson, of art as a career has been a sore spot that constantly invokes regrets. Wilson is a self-taught artist who, never having studied art in a formal classroom setting, seeks inspiration from his numerous visits to museums in every city of the United States that he and his wife, Yvonne, visit. Trips to London in 2000 and Paris in 2003 turned into museum-hopping excursions with the tacit approval of his wife in tow.
Wilson has always been interested in art since childhood and credits his mother, Leoma A. Wilson, with the initial spark of inspiration for the style in which he now paints. While teaching his brother and him to read, she inadvertently stimulated his imagination and ability to perceive alternate realities by asking his brother to identify the map of Italy. Unable to answer, his late brother, Edward, was given the unforgettable hint: “Italy is kicking Sicily”. This anthropomorphic depiction of a map was the initial source of Wilson’s visual punning faculties.
That observation instantly sparked his life-long quest to perceive alternate realities in whatever image that he beheld. This initial inspiration was further intensified by his childhood delight in the double entendre lyrics of the Mighty Sparrow, the most popular calypso singer from the twin Caribbean islands, Trinidad and Tobago. Another source of inspiration was his reading of the suggestions for creative inventions by Leonardo da Vinci. That the artist could further enhance his creative faculties by staring at stains on the wall and therein perceive whatever he wished to see has been Wilson’s modus operandi. It has been the critical statement of approval that reinforced the initial suggestion that his mother’s hint had provided. Finally, on discovering the double imagery of the famous surrealist painter, Salvador Dalí, Wilson instantly knew that that was the style he wanted to advance and take to a higher level.
Wilson calls his style “Anthropomorphic Perception: An exercise in Ultra-perceptive plausible juxtaposition”. He claims that he can perceive an alternate reality in whatever image he beholds. The alternate realities that he finds when he contemplates an image are strategically and plausibly juxtaposed commonplace objects that he calls “mnemonic objects”. They remind him of things from his personal history. The recurrent “ ‘hand’ of bananas” is a deferential reference to the hand of his father, (the hand that fed me) who worked with the banana industry in Dominica for seventeen of the artist’s formative years. By juxtaposing these objects in as realistic a manner as they are experienced in his paintings, he can create a three dimensional illusion which produces a fourth dimension- the hidden image.
Another dimension to his perception reveals Wilson’s passion for the history of his African ancestry. The juxtaposition of commonplace objects to create human form is reminiscent of the cruel equation and reductive perception of his enslaved ancestors to merchandise, bought and sold at market.
Wilson says that his work also seeks to demonstrate the existence of a parallel universe that the viewer can then train his eyes to see. He uses the two-dimensional nature of the canvas and the three dimensional illusion of traditional representational painting to fool the viewer’s eyes into the perceiving co-existing and interdependent realities. This he seeks to demonstrate by revealing the plethora of plausibly juxtaposed objects that can be found in old master paintings, hitherto unseen by the untrained eyes. He has extended this technique of perception to show the hidden images that he has found in many an old master painting, including some by Leonardo, Raphael, Vermeer, Manet, Matisse, Picasso, Velasquez, Ingres and many more.
Since 1980, he has embarked on a quest to build a collection of works in that style. This collection has since grown to approximately 350 – 400 paintings of various sizes. He is now working with sculpture, trying to show that these are not impossible images and that one can indeed experience these perceptions in sculpture.
Wilson’s ultimate aspiration is to found a museum that will house his collection with the stipulated mission of demonstrating to the viewer the power of perception. Wilson and his wife are presently working towards acquiring a building in which to house their collection.
