Bryan Wilson
As an artist I have to balance numerous roles and responsibilities. I am an African American father who must juggle home life, a teaching career, and pursue my artistic dreams.
The purpose of this series of oil paintings entitled “Balance: a juggling act", is to afford the viewer a glimpse into my interaction with my children within the context of our home. The paintings depict how I am able to paint and be an active presence in my childrens' lives.
This body of work is my response to Kerry James Marshall's statement to “add more black narratives to the world of mainstream art.” The imagery of me painting and being an active father is to add to the positive black narrative. I strive to show, in real life and through my narrative works, that one can be a good family man as well as successfully pursue their artistic passions. It takes the will and “balance.”
Bryan's Story
Bryan Wilson grew up between New Jersey and Georgia. It was in Georgia, at the age of 16, that he began his artistic career. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Studio Art with a Minor in Graphic Design from Morris Brown College.
After graduating college, he became an in-house Graphic Designer for Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA. After a couple years, and getting married, he and his wife relocated to Charlotte, NC, where he began teaching art at a public school and obtained his teaching credentials at University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
It was in 2012 that Bryan decided to take his painting, and picture making, ability to another level by pursuing his MFA in Drawing/Painting at the Academy of Art University where he graduated in 2015. He is now exhibiting throughout the US and abroad alongside other distinguished artists.
He is currently showing work at Foster’s Frame and Art in Huntersville, NC and Coffey & Thompson Gallery in Charlotte, NC in addition to representation by Portraits, Inc.