Artwork Description
William Wiley – Weigh to Simple
Dimensions: 50 x 35″ paper / 45.5 x 31.5″ plate
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William T. Wiley’s art was complex, humorous, and filled with puns and symbols, a conscious rejection of the simple, formalist reduction embraced by Minimalism. William T. Wiley’s art was complex, humorous, and filled with puns and symbols, a conscious rejection of the simple, formalist reduction embraced by Minimalism. His work often included wordplay, puns, and an amalgamation of personal symbols, allusions to art history, and current events. A seemingly simple image was often loaded with complex layers of meaning. Wiley made numerous lithographs and original works of art with Landfall Press. His works are found in numerous museum collections, including the following: Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Stedelijk van Abbemuseum at Eindhoven, The Netherlands; Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth, TX; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA; Baltimore Museum of Contemporary Art, Baltimore, MD; Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA; Indianapolis Center for Contemporary Art, Herron Gallery, Indianapolis, IN; Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO; La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, IN; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; San Francisco Museums: de Young & Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA; Hawaii Contemporary Art Museum, Honolulu, H; di Rosa Preserve, Napa, CA