Born in 1975 and raised in Bridgeton, NJ
The Cooper Union, BFA, 1999
Tyler School of Art at Temple University, MFA, 2001
Lives and Works in Brooklyn, NY
WILLIAM VILLALONGO (b. 1975) represents the Black subject against the backdrop of race in America. The artist is known for his use of black velvet cut paper, in which excision and collage are utilized to underscore historical erasure and overturn canonical narratives. The results of his approach are dynamic portraits that reference cultural histories, emphasizing diaspora, deep time, freedom, beauty, and metamorphosis. Villalongo is a 2021 recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Purchase Prize. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Denver Art Museum; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C; the Princeton University Art Museum; Bryn Mawr College Art and Artifacts Collection, Bryn Mawr, PA; the Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC; the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC; and the Yale University Art Gallery, among others.