Adrian Wilson (born 1964) is a British photographer based in New York.
Wilson studied HND Design (photography) from 1984-1986 at Blackpool and The Fylde College, where, according to Digital Art historian Grant Taylor, [1] he was one of the first photographers to specialize in digital image manipulation. Aly Ray Smith believes Wilson was the first photographer who specialized in creating images using a $250,000 digital paint system known as a Quantel Paintbox [2] [3] [4] which was launched nine years before Adobe Photoshop. Wilson created one of the earliest photographic memes and was included in the international "Art & Computers" exhibition [5] at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art in 1988. Wilson wrote for Computer Images magazine, was a guest speaker on digital art at Camberwell College of Art and created digital art for a range of clients, most notably for Creative Review magazine and the cover of Gold Mother [6] by recording artists James. In 1990, Wilson stopped creating digital art and put his archive into storage.
As a result of the renewed interest in early digital art, Wilson scanned his Quantel Paintbox archive and decided to donate it to the UK's National Science & Media Museum. Wilson marked the 40th anniversary of the Paintbox's launch by writing an article for TVtech [7] magazine and a talk for the Computer Arts Society. On January 10, 2022, Blackpool School of Art, where Wilson first learned how to use the Quantel Paintbox, opened the first solo exhibition [8] of his 1980's images.
Wilson specializes in photographing interiors [9] and was the photographer for all Mondiale Publishing [10] magazines, shooting hundreds of nightclubs [11] between 1988 and 2000. In 2004, Wilson moved to New York, [12] where he currently shoots for clients including LVMH [13] The New York Times [14] and Architectural Digest. [15]
Adrian Wilson salvaged a large collection of art from Manchester's textile warehouses in the 1980s, part of which is now displayed [16] in the Science & Industry Museum in Manchester and the Museum of Art and Photography [17] in Bangalore.
Wilson has given various talks on the collection, including at Typecon [18] and as an expert on the Antiques Roadshow when it visited Manchester. In 2015, Wilson created "The Inutilious Retailer", [19] an interactive art exhibit which was open for 10 months on Ludlow Street, NYC and won a Store of the Year award. [20]
In 2018, Wilson created the "Space X Gallery" which he hid above a fake Boring Company start-up office in a derelict building in the Lower East Side, [21] a one-man "Introspective" [22] show about Jerry Saltz and a Native American art exhibition titled "Artonement". [23]
Wilson opened the first gallery in Jean Michel Basquiat's last studio and home [24] at 57 Great Jones St, NY and named it The "Same Old Gallery" [25]
Wilson is mostly known for his street art, [26] [27] specifically his makeover of NYC street and subway signs to honor icons such as David Bowie, [28] Prince. [29] Eddie Van Halen, [30] Aretha Franklin, [31] which the MTA made into a permanent tribute. Wilson never signs his work and only admitted the works were his [32] following his attainment of U.S. citizenship in 2020.
Following the $450 million sale of the much restored Salvator Mundi and an $800,000 complete set of Supreme skateboard decks, Wilson created the "Supreme Mundi", which in 2019 sold as the world's most expensive skateboard. [33]
In response to COVID-19, Wilson created several pandemic-related pieces (now in permanent collections at the Royal College of Art and V&A Museum [34] [35] ) and collaborated with Heidi Hankaniemi to create a "Hazmask suit and dress" [36] to promote mask wearing which went viral. [37]
In 2021, Wilson purchased one of the last 5 remaining Quantel Paintboxes in North America and restored it to working order.
Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. Originating in the United States, skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market is worth an estimated $4.8 billion in annual revenue, with 11.08 million active skateboarders in the world. In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding would be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for both male and female teams.
The Quantel Paintbox was a dedicated computer graphics workstation for composition of broadcast television video and graphics. Produced by the British production equipment manufacturer Quantel, its design emphasized the studio workflow efficiency required for live news production.
Andres Serrano is an American photographer and artist. His work, often considered transgressive art, includes photos of corpses and uses feces and bodily fluids. His Piss Christ (1987) is a red-tinged photograph of a crucifix submerged in a glass container of what was purported to be the artist's own urine. He also created the artwork for the heavy metal band Metallica's Load and Reload albums.
Photograph manipulation involves the transformation or alteration of a photograph. Some photograph manipulations are considered to be skillful artwork, while others are considered to be unethical practices, especially when used to deceive. Photographs may be manipulated for political propaganda, to improve the appearance of a subject, for entertainment, or as humor.
Ed Templeton is an American professional skateboarder, contemporary artist, and photographer. He is the founder of the skateboard company, Toy Machine, a company that he continues to own and manage. He is based in Huntington Beach, California.
Frederick Adrian DeLuca was an American businessman, who was the co-founder and president of the Subway franchise of fast food restaurants with Peter Buck. During his tenure, Subway grew into the largest franchise in the world.
Quantel was a company based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1973 that designed and manufactured digital production equipment for the broadcast television, video production and motion picture industries. It was headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire. The name Quantel came from Quantised Television, in reference to the process of converting a television picture into a digital signal.
Stencil graffiti is a form of graffiti that makes use of stencils made out of paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The desired design is cut out of the selected medium and then the image is transferred to a surface through the use of spray paint or roll-on paint.
Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? is a collage by English artist Richard Hamilton. It measures 10.25 in (260 mm) × 9.75 in (248 mm). The work is now in the collection of the Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. It was the first work of pop art to achieve iconic status.
The Computer Originated World (COW) was the method of creating the BBC1 symbol that was used between 18 February 1985 and 16 February 1991. It was later used by the international, commercial television service BBC World Service Television from its launch until 26 January 1995.
Martha Cooper is an American photojournalist. She worked as a staff photographer for the New York Post during the 1970s. She is best known for documenting the New York City graffiti scene of the 1970s and 1980s.
Bruce Landon Davidson is an American photographer. He has been a member of the Magnum Photos agency since 1958. His photographs, notably those taken in Harlem, New York City, have been widely exhibited and published. He is known for photographing communities usually hostile to outsiders.
Glen Wexler is an American photographer who is best known for his elaborately staged digital photocompositions of improbable situations.
Douglas Miles is a San Carlos Apache-Akimel O'odham painter, printmaker and photographer from Arizona, who founded Apache Skateboards and Apache Skate Team.
Jamel Shabazz is an African-American fashion, fine art, documentary and street style photographer. His work has been published in books, shown in exhibitions, and used in editorial magazine works. He was born in Brooklyn, New York.
Seb Janiak is a French photographer and video director of Polish origin. In 2009, after an international career making music clips and working as a fashion photographer, he turned to artistic and scientific research in the field of art photography.
Tyler Mitchell is an American photographer. He is based in Brooklyn, New York, and is best known for his cover photo of Beyoncé for the cover of Vogue.
Pep Williams is an American fine art and street photographer, director, entrepreneur, and former professional skateboarder who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, California. He has traveled globally creating material for his photographic exhibitions. He is one of the only photographers to have ever been granted access into the California State Prison System where he created a series of inmate portraitures entitled, Behind Bars.
Andre D. Wagner is an American photographer, living in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York. His black and white street and documentary style photographs primarily depict African Americans living in Brooklyn.
David T. Schubert was an American graffiti artist and professional photographer recognized for his photographs of skateboarding and graffiti.