University of Pennsylvania, MFA, 2015
Lives and Works in Philadelphia, PA
WILMER WILSON IV (b. 1989) investigates the marginalization and care of Black bodies in contemporary life. Born in Richmond, VA and based in Philadelphia, Wilson investigates “the way that blackness is shaped in and by city space” and “producing possibilities for representation that exist apart from global advertising strategies.” Wilson holds a BFA from Howard University (2012) and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania (2015). Wilson has participated in exhibitions and performances at the Driskell Center, College Park, MD (2026), GRAY Chicago (2025), African American Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (2023); the Murray Art Museum, Albury, Australia (2023); the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia (2022); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2021); Philadelphia Museum of Art (2021); New Orleans Museum of Art (2019); New Museum Triennial, NYC (2018); Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (2017); Flanders Fields Museum, Belgium (2017); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2015); and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. (2015). His work is included in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Baltimore Museum of Art; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, among others.