From The Studio of Blair Wilson
Cathy Adair
A 411, 8:00
Dr. D. G. Cannon
July 23, 1991
Blair Wilson As interpretod by Cathy Adair
As one looks at a drawing of a man with his nose twisted in a serpentine manner with an extra torso growing out of his head, one may ask oneself; "What created this travesty of nature?" The answer to that would be "pen and ink," moved by the hand of Blair Wilson.
Blair Joseph Wilson is a practicing artist in Seattle, Washington. Not all of his works are as bizarre as the one described above -some are weirder - while others are delicate and beautiful.
Born in Yakima, Washington on May 15, 1967, Wilson has devoted much of his life to art. He grew up mainly in Pendleton, Oregon, which is where his art career began. He had always enjoyed art, but it wasn't until junior high that he began developing his talent. At this time, he fell in with "a bad crowd," and ended up getting arrested for shoplifting. In response to this, his parents sent him to Utah for the summer to stay with his grandmother. "This put a crushing blow on my social activities," said Wilson. However, he spent his time drawing, and by the end of the summer, he had almost filled a sketch pad.
In high school, Wilson continued with art, and was a good student. During his sophomore year, he was invited to take one of two advanced classes: Calculus or Art. This choice was a major decision for him, and in choosing the art class, he also chose to make art his career.
Around this same time, his mother arranged for him to take oil painting classes from a woman in Pendleton. These classes continued for three years, and while he was consistently taught to paint landscapes (without much emphasis on imagination), it was important to him for learning painting techniques.
In high school, his art teacher was David Remington, who helped him bring out his developing style. Remington encouraged Wilson to enter art shows and contests, and Wilson became active in high school exhibitions and -won several art awards. When. he was a senior, Remington helped him pick out some of his best works to enter in a high school art contest at Western Oregon State College, Remington's alma mater. After entering the contest, Wilson went to the college for the first time on a field trip to view the art show. Upon arrival, he found his art in a place of honor with a hand-lettered sign proclaiming him the first place winner of the show. This granted him partial tuition, and was an auspicious beginning to his college career at W.O.S.C.
Wilson's art continued to flourish in college, and he was an active participant in the art club there, where he served as vice president. He came away from W.O.S.C. with still more awards and graduated with honors.
Now that he's out of school, he spends much of his time working on art, usually until about four in the morning. He then sleeps until noon, refreshed for a day of work at a restaurant. Wilson explains his means of survival:
"I work as a mindless robot dishwashing busboy and a few people have sympathy and pity for me."
... And how does lie like his job?
"Oh I just love and adore it with all my heart. No, actually I despise it and am made ill by the pigs I serve."
Since he has to live frugally, Wilson exists mainly on bulk foods, such as rice, oatmeal, and top ramen (which he likes to mash up and over cook until it's almost the same thing as oatmeal). He exercises. daily , doing sit ups, push ups, and pull ups, with hopes that he will stay healthy since he can't afford medical insurance. His way of life inevitably comes out in his art.
Wilson has had many influences, one of the earliest coming from the Surrealists. This group of artists was concerned with exploring the subconscious and found their inspiration in fantasies and dreams. They removed things from their normal context and placed them in unusual situations.
Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte were particular influences. Dali had a talent for illusionism, and in a disturbing way, could make the irrational seem tangible. Magritte was also good at this, and his works have a peculiar curiosity to them. What may look like a normal scene is marred by the illogical a floating apple, boots with toes, or a backwards reflection. This kind of play on reality would strongly influence Blair Wilson.
Wilson prefers to show the twisted side of-life, but in a subtle way. Such artists as Edvard Munch served as an inspiration in this area. Munch held a troubled view of the world, and his works have strong themes of despair and suffering.
Comic books also made an impression on Wilson. In his youth, he read the ones his older brother bought, and eventually began collecting them himself. He started out reading Marvel Comics --things like "Spider Mari" and "The Incredible Hulk." He later discovered underground comics, which had more graphic, adult subject matter. He began reading "Zap" comics, which was an entire underground movement in San Francisco during the 1960s. He also was aware of R. (Robert) Crumb, who is revered as a legend in the underground comic book scene.
Eventually, Wilson decided he'd rather create his own comics instead of buying them, and has created his own style which is very free and allows for distortions. A common theme in his comic figures is a protruding tongue. He even went so far as to create a character called "Sticking Tongue Out Boy". Wilson views this as saying "look at me, I'm weird!" and being an act of defiance. It's also his way of thumbing his nose at conventional art: "I don't care what Mr. Flower Painter wants," he said. Another theory he has to offer for his fascination with tongues is that in comics it's traditional for figures to have something- coming out of their mouths (although granted it's usually a word balloon).
Working in pen and ink, these comic figures are ideal for photocopy machines, and Wilson sends out copies of his works to a large number of publications. He gets the addresses for this from Factsheet Five, a magazine that reviews other magazines, and also lists which ones are interested in receiving art work.
He sends out samples of his art, along with a self-addressed, stamped reply card. He invites comments on these cards, and so far has had a very positive response.
Blair Wilson doesn't limit himself to Comics, though. He works in several different mediums, and is constantly experimenting. He often does small paintings (usually no larger than 8 1/2" by 11') made up of intricate, recurring shapes. These shapes he calls his "cast of characters," and he uses them to populate the surface of his work. Often these paintings are symmetrical and have no focal point. He creates them by starting in the middle and then lets the cast of characters take over. He likens the small figures to "undulating tadpoles, starbursts and firecrackers," and also sees them as something one might -Find looking through a microscope. "My own world of micro-cosmic painting," he states. He enjoys playing with composition and color and keeps these works small because the intricacy of them can be time consuming.
These paintings he labels "Squigglism," and he cites the Northwest artist Mark Tobey as an influence on them. Tobey traveled extensively, and lived in China and Japan for awhile, even spending a month in a zen monastery. While there, he studied calligraphy and brought this influence out in his art. He was prompted by a desire to break and disintegrate shapes. Tobey tried to express what the content of reality was to him: "a movement woven into the deepest dimension of time." He strove to lose all individuality so that his work would become pure meditation.
Blair Wilson's works also have a meditative quality to them. The viewer is allowed to become absorbed in them, and the mind is free to wander.
In addition to paintings and ink drawings, Wilson also experiments with mixed media. Lately he's been experimenting with texture by soaking and wadding up paper, then -Flattening it out again. He then layers several pieces of this paper, glues them together, and paints and irons them. This causes things to melt together and creates an interesting surface. Wilson also works in pastels, conte, pencils, saw dust, and beard clippings. He takes a new approach to each of his works, and enjoys inventing new techniques. He's now also taken up woodworking so he can make his own frames. Wilson seems well on his way to a productive career in art.
