RICHMOND, VA.- Arise!: A Suite of Prints by Fred Wilson will be on view from August 24, 2006 to July 15, 2007 at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums. Created in 2004 by American artist Fred Wilson (born Bronx, New York, 1954) and published by Crown Point Press, San Francisco, this series of prints addresses the artist’s continued themes of race, perception, and relationships. Wilson’s prints were created by dripping acid onto copper plates, resulting in a nuclei of abstract drips of ink. In several of the pieces, Wilson incorporates bits of dialogue from African American characters in literature written by white authors such as Shakespeare and Melville.

Regarding this series, Wilson states, “In my work, I’m usually pretty sure of what’s going to come out, I usually think I know what people will see. But in this case, I just did it. It’s exciting and scary. I have no idea what others will see in it, or how they will relate to my work.” As an artist of African American and Caribbean descent, Fred Wilson says that his recent art concerns “relationships and what’s really important in life.”

Upon completion of his B.F.A from State University of New York, Purchase, Fred Wilson began his career with artistic collaborations with dancers, choreographers, performance artists, playwrights and sculptors. In 1992, his landmark exhibition Mining the Museum: An Installation by Fred Wilson at The Contemporary and the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, questioned how museums present and interpret culture and history, revealing cultural biases within contemporary museum practices. In 1999, Wilson was the recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant and his work is represented in major museum collections internationally.

Also on view from August 24 to September 17, 2006, the Annual Student Exhibition highlights works selected by the studio art faculty of the University of Richmond’s Department of Art and Art History. This exhibition features artwork by studio art majors and minors and non-majors enrolled during the University’s 2006 spring semester. The Annual Student Exhibition was organized by the University of Richmond Museums.