Stephen Wilson: Luxury Graffiti

EXHIBITION: Stephen Wilson: Luxury Graffiti
EXHIBITION DATES: October 5 – November 4, 2018
OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, October 6, 6-8 pm.
LOCATION: 66 Park Place, East Hampton, NY 11937
ONLINE AT: www.romanfineart.com

(East Hampton, NY, September 6, 2018) – Roman Fine Art is pleased to announce Luxury Graffiti, our upcoming solo exhibition of new works by artist Stephen Wilson. Wilson’s first exhibition at Roman Fine Art will feature works from his ongoing Luxury series as well as debut selections from his newest Model Tapestries and Brick Wall series. The exhibit will open Friday, October 5th and continue through Sunday, November 4th. There will be a wine reception Saturday, October 6th, 6-8pm.

Stephen Wilson is a mixed-media artist best known for his artistic exploration of the intersections between traditional craft and contemporary culture through blended use of handicraft techniques with modern technologies and pop iconography. High fashion influences are quite prevalent in his work. His redefinition of textile and embroidery-based art forms evokes questions regarding luxury consumerism and high-low art distinctions.

Citing street art and fashion as two of his biggest influences, the latest work by Wilson fuses these inspirations into wholly unique mixed-media works. Wilson’s acclaimed Luxury series takes discarded designer packaging and renews their spirit through intricate embroidery work and luxurious fabric applications, like Hermès silk and Chanel wool boucle. Stemming from a background in embroidery design and technology, Wilson creates and digitizes designs that are then machine-embroidered and finished with mixed-media hand processes including found-object assemblage and painting.

In Luxury Graffiti, Wilson pushes technical boundaries and creates new supersized luxury boxes as he develops themes inspired by his previous explorations. These larger-than-life objects are adorned with his signature embroidery, paint and mixed-media applications to create a grand scale previously unattainable for the artist. The Brick Wall series features designer shoeboxes that have been deconstructed, laser-cut into pieces and reassembled into uniform brick-like abstractions, echoing the street art and graffiti appeal. The exhibit also features tapestry-style pieces featuring photographic images of fashion models which have been transformed with layers of thread. All the work is brought together by embroidered iconography, mimicking graffiti tags. A rainbow of graphic appliqué stretches across Wilson’s dimensional pieces, ranging from classic stars and skulls, to fresh emojis and brass knuckles.

About Stephen Wilson:
Wilson is represented by major galleries across the US, including Art Angels, Roman Fine Art, DTR Modern Galleries (NY, Boston, DC, Palm Beach) and New Gallery of Modern Art. Wilson’s work has been exhibited in The Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC, The Cornell Museum, Delray Beach, FL and the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. His upcoming mid-career retrospective will be opening at the Coral Springs Museum of Art, in Coral Springs, FL in 2019. Wilson’s work is featured in numerous international collections including Japan, Bulgaria, Italy, and Mexico, in addition to private and public collections throughout the United States. Scala Arts and Heritage Publishers’ recent book on the Artist, Stephen Wilson: Luscious Threads, was released in Fall 2018.