I was looking forward to this show. I had been impressed with Wiley’s work at both SFMOMA and the SAM. One reason is that I’ve studied and created geometric designs and mandalas since the 1970’s. I worked with them in a variety of media including writing software.
As viewers of this site can tell, I’ve been lightboxing photos in a crosshatching style. Wiley copies photos in acrylics and adds backgrounds from a range of geometric traditions, including William Morris of all odd influences.
So wow, two of my favorite things in one artist. Now for the disappointing parts of the show: I’m not a big fan of the stained glass; I walked right through it and I was less impressed with the sculpture (except the one in this post).
After a while the programmatic nature of his process got a little old for me. These works are essentially collages rendered in paint. The painting from the series Sri Lanka “THE WHITE SLAVE, 2010” revived my interest check it out here:
The look on the face of the washerwoman was worth the trip in one insignificant part of a large painting.
I still like Wiley’s work and I look forward to a day when he incorporates depth of field from photos in it. This would introduce a sense of physical space. Wiley’s current program exists in the world of ULTRA FLAT. Now that he has mined that to the max, let’s see more physical depth. I think it would add a lot to the final statement.