Biography
Eric Wesley (*1973 Los Angeles CA US) produces artworks that are humorous, poetic, rigorous and criticizing. With his installations of various media, which include highly crafted objects, drawings, and paintings, he has become internationally known. His work often exhibits a socio-critical point of view, where sections of the art world undergo a critical analysis, not without a humoristic touch.
Wesley was born in Los Angeles, where he attended the University of California. His artistic method in fact begins with a scientific approach in investigating something's inner nature, such as the analysis of the world based on systems. Thus, Wesley’s installations consist of a complex grouping of objects that address subjects from the standpoint of various fields. The idea of failure is omnipresent in his work, one example being the failures of institutional and urban economies. For Wesley, the influence that context and perception have on his works can lead to different interpretations of the concept while simultaneously allowing reflection and dialogue. For example, failure can mean a lack of success in one’s objective, which can open the possibility to learn from such mistakes. Alternatively, however, failure can also be the neglect or omission of a required action, which results in disillusionment and thus allows a new interpretation. It is such dichotomies of which Wesley’s works are full.
Irony plays a great role in Wesley’s oeuvre, which may derive from the fact that he is part of a generation of LA artists who eschew their placement within artistic legacies. Instead, he tries to undermine the cultural establishment by producing subtle commentary, which points a finger towards what was previously undetected. Supposition can be corrected, not through a didactic approach but rather as an opening to different ideas.
Going in hand with his urge to finding alternate strategies, Wesley, together with Piero Golia, founded The Mountain School of the Arts in 2005. The school has since organized countless free seminars with the aim to provide the academic community with distinct and free cultural education. The curriculum consists of lectures, studio visits, and semi-public gatherings which are held three months a year, from mid-January to mid-April. The visual artists who have taught there are, to name a few: Dan Graham, Pierre Hughe, Paul McCarthy, and Richard Jackson. The school, however, does not form part of Wesley’s artistic practice but is rather an attempt to provide a diverse and different approach to art education. What they both have in common is being based on the purpose to construct a complex structure that is effective and entirely integrated into the art system.
Wesley continues to live and work in Los Angeles. He has had solo exhibitions at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Galleria Fonti, Naples, Italy; and Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples. He has also participated in group shows at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; Sculpture Center, New York; Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France; Fundación/Colección, Jumex, Mexico; Museo d’Arte, Benevento, Italy; The Prague Biennial (2007); Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2004); Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; P.S.1, New York; and the Studio Museum, Harlem. His work is included in important public collections such as the Aishti Foundation, Beirut, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.