David G. Wilson's Page

Anthropomorphic Perception

Biography: David G. Wilson
I was born in the Caribbean island-nation- The Commonwealth of Dominica (Dominica) I am an entirely self-taught artist who has been painting for the past thirty-nine (39) years. On immigrating to the USA in 1976, I became enamored with the museums in New York and other east coast cities (Philadelphia, Boston, Hartford, Baltimore, Washington D C. New Haven) In fact as far as my wife and I can drive within one day or weekend. As a result, I was tremendously inspired to advance my painting career and follow in the footsteps of the old masters by simply visiting museums in every city to which we travel . However, due to family issues, I chose not to study art (regrets that plague me constantly). Instead, I attended York College, CUNY, from which I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Economics, Class of 1980. In 2005, I attended Touro College, graduating with a Master's degree in Instructional Technology, Class of 2009. Presently, I teach Art at a Middle School in Queens, NY.

My frequent visits to museums all over the USA and more recently London and Paris have served as my instructor. My predilection for visual puns was first kindled by my, recently deceased mother at 99 year, 8 moonths old, Mrs. Leoma A. Wilson, when she was teaching my late brother, Eddie, and me to read. Having asked Eddie to identify the map of Italy, which he couldn't do, mom then gave him an unforgettable hint. She said, "Italy is kicking Sicily". My interest in the double entendre lyrics of my life-long calypsonian hero, The Mighty Sparrow, further inflamed my passion for visual puns. But the final catalyst that ignited my passion for visual puns was my discovery of the double image paintings of the Spanish surrealist painter, Salvador Dali and my reading of Leonardo da Vinci's suggestion to the artist about enhancing his faculties creative invention. That made me realize that I had found the style in which I wanted to continue painting. So, I sought to exploit this style to the fullest extent possible, hopefully beyond the accomplishment, in that genre, of even Dali­ himself.

In my style, which I call 'Anthropomorphic Perception: An exercise in Ultra-Perceptive Plausible Juxtaposition.' I seek to portray alternative realities within the human form by strategically and plausibly juxtaposing commonplace anthropomorphic objects. The use of inanimate objects to represent the human form is reminiscent of the cruel and reductive equation that slavery made with my African ancestors, depreciating them, in the eyes of their slave-masters, to the level of merchandise.

The influence of European artists, however, is not lost in my endeavor and as Leonardo said, 'the artist may enhance his faculties for creative invention by staring at a stain on the wall and therein perceive whatever he wishes to see.' I have used this technique to discover what I call ' mnemonic images' (objects that my mind's eye perceives within an image, which are reminiscent of aspects of my personal life story) in the images that inspire me.
'Mnemonic images' are the component parts of my creations, which I discover when I scrutinize the contours of a source image. They frequently have personal significance in my life. The ubiquitous 'hand of bananas' is a deferential reference to the 'hand that fed and still feeds me' which is the hand of my late father Mr. Henzie A. Wilson, who worked for seventeen of my formative years within the Banana Industry in my native, Commonwealth of Dominica, W. I. The boats in every painting were his working capital after he left the Banana Industry in 1969. The mountains which frequently double as eyebrows are located in my hometown of Portsmouth, where I first observed my parents' sweat from their brow trying to raise us in a decent home environment. That recurrent bay with boats moored therein is also Portsmouth and it represents my mother's face, because it was in that town that my mother first stimulated my imagination towards the perception of visual puns. The inconspicuous Y that simulates a woman's decolletage etched on vases and which represents a woman's accentuated breasts are a referential tribute to those on which I have laid my head for the past thirty one (31) years - Y for Yvonne's. Every nude, whether she may be in the form of fruits and vegetables (nutritious and delectable) or a table or an apparition between trees is none other than my muse whose sinuous contours beguiled me one Sunday morning in February 1978. My eyes have not receded into their sockets since.
I presently live in the Jamaica area of Queens, New York, with my wife and muse of thirty one (31) years, Yvonne A Chambers-Wilson. My works can be found in the Dominica National Museum and the Old Mill Art Centre in Dominica.