William Wiley
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William Wiley
Biography
Born: Bedford, Indiana, 1937
Died: Greenbrae, California, 2021
For all his apparent irreverence, William T. Wiley addresses serious issues in a manner, which seems joking only until one takes a closer look. Wiley’s early career bridged the height of Abstract Expressionism and the beginnings of the Bay Area “Funk” art scene. Freely borrowing images and concepts from both “high” art and popular culture, Wiley transforms his sources into images filled with personal meaning. But the accessibility of the artist’s images and texts allows each viewer to relate to the work.
“Wiley’s aesthetic…is highly intellectual in the puns and in the deliberateness with which he selects and places each object, and freely eclectic both in the use of materials and in the references to other artists.”
– Jonathan Fineberg, Art Since 1940: Strategeies of Being –
Died: Greenbrae, California, 2021
For all his apparent irreverence, William T. Wiley addresses serious issues in a manner, which seems joking only until one takes a closer look. Wiley’s early career bridged the height of Abstract Expressionism and the beginnings of the Bay Area “Funk” art scene. Freely borrowing images and concepts from both “high” art and popular culture, Wiley transforms his sources into images filled with personal meaning. But the accessibility of the artist’s images and texts allows each viewer to relate to the work.
“Wiley’s aesthetic…is highly intellectual in the puns and in the deliberateness with which he selects and places each object, and freely eclectic both in the use of materials and in the references to other artists.”
– Jonathan Fineberg, Art Since 1940: Strategeies of Being –
Artist Statement
Blind Mickey’s Blues, 1997
In Blind Mickey’s Blues Wiley adopts the urban myth of a cryogenically preserved Walt Disney as a metaphor for technology employed for selfish ends. Wiley superimposed the humorous image of a blues-singing Mickey Mouse over a cryogenic tank inscribed with his song, all of which floats like a satellite above a map of the world, implying that the sometimes silly choices we make can indeed have global meaning. The print is based upon the song Blind Mickey’s Blues written and performed by Wiley.
In Blind Mickey’s Blues Wiley adopts the urban myth of a cryogenically preserved Walt Disney as a metaphor for technology employed for selfish ends. Wiley superimposed the humorous image of a blues-singing Mickey Mouse over a cryogenic tank inscribed with his song, all of which floats like a satellite above a map of the world, implying that the sometimes silly choices we make can indeed have global meaning. The print is based upon the song Blind Mickey’s Blues written and performed by Wiley.