Art

David Wilson was born in the Caribbean island-nation of The Commonwealth of Dominica. He is an entirely self-taught artist who has been painting for the past forty-four (44) years, having started his painting career in his late adolescence in Dominica. He began painting in December, 1972, he was not even able to use a paintbrush, so he painted with match sticks flatted with a razor blade and used as a palette knife. Eventually, on observing an itinerant artist from Grenada painting on King’s lane in front of his aunt, Huguette Giraud’s house, He stopped at Dominica Dispensary (now Jolly Pharmacy) and purchased some brushes and subsequently proceeded to paint with brushes.

On immigrating to the USA in September, 1976, he became enamored with the art museums of New York City and other east coast cities, he has been tremendously inspired to advance his painting career and follow in the footsteps of the old masters by simply visiting and observing paintings in museums in every city to which he travels.

He attended York College, CUNY, from which he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Class of 1980. In 2005, he attended Touro College, graduating with a Master’s degree in Instructional Technology, Class of 2009. However, as he has done before at the Dominica Grammar School in Dominica, before immigrating to the USA, he continues to teach Spanish and French at a Middle School and High School in Queens, NY. He shall be retiring from teaching as of June 28th, 2017.

His frequent visits to museums all over the USA and more recently London and Paris have served as his instructor. David’s predilection for visual puns was first kindled by his late mother, Mrs. Leoma A Wilson,(1911 -2010) when she was teaching his now deceased brother, Eddie, and himself to read. Having asked Eddie to identify the map of Italy, his mom, on realizing that neither could answer, then gave an unforgettable hint. She said, ‘Italy is kicking Sicily’. Later, his delight in the double entendre lyrics of his life-long calypsonian hero, The Mighty Sparrow, further inflamed his passion for visual and literary puns. But the final catalyst that ignited his passion for visual puns was discovering the double image paintings of the Spanish surrealist painter, Salvador Dali and readings of Leonardo da Vinci suggesting to the artist about enhancing his faculties’ through creative invention. That made him realize that he had found the style in which he wanted to continue painting. So, he sought to exploit this style to the fullest extent possible, hopefully beyond the accomplishment, in that genre, of even Dalí himself. His style, which he calls ‘Anthropomorphic Alternative Reality’, seeks to portray alternative realities within the human form by strategically and plausibly juxtaposing commonplace objects that reveal, to him, their anthropomorphic characteristics.

The influence of European artists, however, is not lost in his endeavor and as Leonardo da Vinci’s instructed, ‘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.’ He has used this technique to discover what he calls ‘ mnemonic images’ in the images that inspire him.

The mantra that he uses to rationalize his observations is: ‘In every squiggle, there is an image hidden’ these frequently have personal significance in his life. The ubiquitous ‘hand of bananas’ is a deferential reference to the ‘hand that fed’ which is the hand of his late father Mr. Henzie A. Wilson, who worked for seventeen of David’s formative years within the Banana Industry in Dominica.

He presently lives in the Jamaica area of Queens, New York, with his wife and muse of thirty-seven (37) years, Yvonne A Chambers-Wilson. His works can be found in the Dominica National Museum, the and Jolly’s Pharmacy in Dominica.