about STEPHEN WILSON
Stephen Wilson began his career in New York City working as a freelance fashion embroidery designer and as a result his artwork has strong ties to the fashion industry and luxury brands. Luxury brands not only create beautiful items they create amazing packaging to go with them. We often hold and display these boxes and bags for a time and then eventually discard them to make room for something else. Stephen wanted to transform these items into art pieces in their own right and the luxury series was conceived.
The luxury series features one-of-a-kind pieces of art using up-cycled designer boxes, bags and packaging as a canvas. Each piece is completely unique and original, using mixed-media techniques like embroidery, quilting and assemblage before embellishing it with handmade and surprising elements. All of the elements for all of the pieces are created in his studio in Charlotte NC. Whether offering a critique on materialism, a commentary on contemporary culture, or relaying the emotion of luxury itself, the result is so stunning - a box will never simply be a box again.
Each piece is sold framed in acrylic and is presented in a gift box.
About the Work
Blending predominantly traditional embroidery techniques with 3D printing, laser engraving, painting and found objects, Wilson’s manipulation of multiple materials produces wholly unique works of art. His work reflects high fashion influences, traditional craft and quilting techniques, and a pop-culture aesthetic. His pieces often contain millions of embroidery stitches and take hundreds of hours to create.
Born and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, Stephen Wilson is a conceptual artist whose unique medium carries his message. A background in fashion and home design built Wilson’s embroidery-digitizing mastery and creative expertise. In his fine arts practice, Stephen is deeply interested in the intersection of traditional craft and contemporary culture. Wilson is represented by major galleries across the US, including Art Angels, Roman Fine Art, DTR Modern Galleries (NY, Boston, DC, Palm Beach.)
His work is frequently exhibited along with his neo-pop / urban art contemporaries i.e. Robert Mars, Mr. Brainwash, Punk Me Tender; and major contemporary / modern / pop artists such as Warhol, Hirst, and Kapoor. Stephen’s work was acquired internationally by the National Gallery of Art (Sofia, Bulgaria), Minart (Museo International de Arte) Museum (Guadalajara, Mexico) and the Brunello Cucinelli headquarters (Solomeo, Italy), in addition to private and public collections throughout the United States. His work has been publicly exhibited in diverse locales from the Lincoln Center in New York to Catch Restaurant in Los Angeles.
