Internet Research Project

Elisha Wiggins
04/20/16
Julia Lambright
Research Project


 In this paper I will be talking about five artist's work that I was able to connect with the most as well as the five artists whose pieces I did not enjoy. Then I will give an in-depth analysis on my favorite artist in the group.

The five artists I enjoyed the most were Tad Wiley, Corrie Slawson, Daphne Plessner, Monica Hall, and Jessica Nissen. Their works all interested me because each of them involved new factors and techniques which allow their work to be original to themselves. Some of the artists that I did not enjoy as much to look at were Joy Cox, Anne Allen, Amy Curtis, Sandra Perlow, and Julie Graham. The reason I did not enjoy many of these artists work was because it felt like many of their pieces contained the same factors all throughout them. Their same abstract styles are reused all throughout the paintings in each of their collections which to me is inspired by repetition and not originality.

The artist that interested me of the most while on drawingcenter.org was Tad Wiley. He is a New York-based artist who came from Needham Massachusetts. He was born in 1955 and by 1978 he had earned a bachelors degree in fine arts and painting at The school of Art and Design at the State University of New York. Wiley has a style which is much unlike any other artists. He uses very basic elements and geometric shapes and combines them with very complex forms and shapes throughout his work. His spontaneous and experimental style allows him to draw connections between organic and geometric shapes as well as involve simplistic as well as detailed designs along side each other.

Along with the contrasting factors in his artwork Tad also expands the medium he works with by placing many of his oil based paintings over wooden boards covered in enamel. This allows him to experiment with a soft shine or glare which can embody the image when viewed at certain angles in the light.
Many of his pieces hang in galleries across the country ranging from places in Los Angeles and San Francisco all the way to New Jersey and New York. Though lots of his pieces are owned by private collectors for their own personal enjoyment.

Tad Wiley's first exhibition was at a gallery named the Drawing Center in 1982, and it wasn't until two years later when he was able to host his first solo exhibition in New York on 72nd street at the Leslie Cecil Gallery. Since then he has had over 15 solo exhibitions all across North America. These shows allowed articles and reviews to be published on his work which in turn gave him national recognition in magazines such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.