Amy Wilson
Born in New York, 1973 and lives in Jersey City, New Jersey
Amy Wilson’s elaborately detailed drawings explore the tensions between her inner and exterior worlds, incorporating personal stories and observations along with commentary about current events and artistic process. Her small-scale watercolor compositions, etchings, and books feature tiny, hand-written texts and an ever-changing cast of doll-like talkative girls. Reminiscent of the fantasy-world created by outsider artist Henry Darger, Wilson’s work engages the musings and expeditions of childhood as a means of intimate psychological expression—her allegorical scenes are both candid and darkly mythological. Says Wilson of her child figures, “they depict a ‘chorus’ of young girls, all of whom I see as being an extension of myself and as representations of the many voices I have inside of me—as such I consider my work to be an ongoing exploration of self-portraiture.” Recently Wilson’s practice has expanded to include textile and fiber arts pieces, adding additional texture and dimension to her poignant imagined universe.
Wilson has had solo shows at BravinLee Programs, Bellwether Gallery, MoMA-PS1, and The Drawing Center, all in New York, and has participated in group exhibitions at PS1/MOMA, New York, The Drawing Center, New York, Josee Bienvenue Gallery, New York, and the Pera Museum, Istanbul. She teaches drawing and art history at the School of Visual Arts, New York.
