"Trust us for Just us" "Trust us for Just us", an exhibition of new watercolors by William T. Wiley opens the fall season at the Marsha Mateyka Gallery. This exhibition is concurrent with the major 50-year career retrospective for the artist now on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Smithsonian's exhibition includes all aspects of Wiley's work: paintings, watercolors, drawings, prints, constructions, installations and films. William T. Wiley's watercolors have always been among his most intimate works. They are thought provoking and full of layered meanings with messages contained in both visual and verbal puns. His broad ranging comments on the human condition are communicated typically by posing questions to the viewer. Serious political, social, cultural and environmental issues are conveyed with humor, parody, and a sensibility not unlike Mark Twain's (a writer who Wiley frequently quotes). William T. Wiley's use of humor is often misunderstood. He uses it to initially engage the viewer in a dialogue addressing difficult, troubling issues. As Wiley wrote in one of his most celebrated prints, Spooky on the line, "serious is this fear of humor". In an era of texting, twitter, sound bites and short attention spans, Wiley's works reward time spent viewing, reading and reflecting. He is a very serious artist who will be ultimately recognized as one of the chroniclers of our time. "Trust us for Just us" is the eleventh solo exhibition for the artist at the Marsha Mateyka Gallery, marking an over 20-year affiliation with William T. Wiley. His work has been the subject of many museum exhibitions over the last forty years. These include: "Wiley Territory" organized by the Walker Art Center, "Struck! Sure?/Sound/Unsound" organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, "What is Not Music?", by the Frankfurter Kunstverein and "Steal Witness for the Time Being" by SFMOMA. He has been a participant in several Whitney and Venice Biennales and in Documenta. He is a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Foundation Grant. His works are in the permanent collections of numerous museums throughout the United States. | ||||||||||||||||||||
