“WILLIAM Deputy WILSON is at the crossroads of the old debate between modernity / tradition, Africa / West,

to question ourselves on the obvious too simple and on the assumptions to which, more or less, we are accustomed.

A question that goes to the heart of the art that is being done, of a Métis art that has got rid of all the old demons of history. »Simon Njami.

WW lives and works between Paris, Benin, Togo and Haiti,

he made his first exhibition in Paris in 1976.

But it was from 1983 that he regularly showed his work, in France, Europe and Africa, then in the United States.

In 1986, he won the Villa Medici Hors-les-Murs Prize and spent more than a year in the United States.

William Adjété Wilson mainly works with soft pastel on paper, but he also produces sculptures-wood assemblies, paintings, prints (lithographs, linocuts, serigraphs) as well as numerous collages. He is also developing work in collaboration with artists and artisans in West Africa and Haiti.

William Wilson sometimes partners with other designers in a variety of fields.

For example, he worked with Dominique Bagouet on the sets and costumes for a choreography, – The small parts of Berlin – (1988)

and collaborated on music videos for Rita Mitsouko (Marcia Baïla) or Mory Kanté.

He produces “artist’s books” in collaboration with writers or is associated with fashion, – “Louis Vuitton” for the edition of “artist square” scarves, or for Rodier or Arches shoes, etc. .

Illustrator for publishing (Gallimard, Folio, Flammarion, etc.) and for newspapers and magazines, such as “New Yorker”, “Du” in Zurich, “Télérama” or “Liberation” in Paris. He creates cultural posters (“Fête de la Musique 98, festivals, etc.).

In October 1993, a monograph “William Wilson from 83 to 93” was published by the Comptoir Général d´Edition, Paris (78 color p.).

In 1994, with Isabelle Jarry, he traveled for 3 months in the South-West of the United States.

On the way back WW makes a series of 11 large pastels (150 X150 cm) Le Voyage en Arizona. In 95 and 96 it will give rise to two personal exhibitions, one in Paris, the other in San Francisco. (Arizona tour).

Louis Vuitton will publish 5 silk-screened silk scarves in 1000 copies each and two exhibition catalogs.

1997, WW illustrates, with 22 tables, the fiftieth anniversary edition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Mango-UN co-edition

From 1998 WW will publish a dozen albums for young people alone or with an author.

1998 He accompanies Isabelle Jarry in her residency at Villa Kujoyama, Kyoto Japan followed by an exhibition in Tokyo -Shibuya. He discovers the Japanese gardens of Kyoto.

1999 Designs and builds a “Stone Garden” (35m2) in Paris.

2000 8 week stay in Mauritius + Expo at Rosehill

2001 WW illustrates and formats the Nelson Mandela at the Ed Mango (Paris) Expo of the originals in Vitry / Seine, Orléans, etc.

2001 Illustration of « Le commandeur d’une forêt » Text by Patrick Chamoiseau. Gallimard

2002 Creates a « garden » sculpture for the exhibition Scarecrows by JP COFFE. Roaming in Paris, Versailles, Bordeaux, etc.

2004 During a residency stay at AIR he designs and sets up a “Stone Garden” near Pondicherry in South India (350m2).

This garden will be destroyed by the tsunami of December 2004, then restored in 2006.

2007-2008-2009. In Abomey, Benin, he made a series of 18 fabric appliqué hangings which are the subject of a book

L’OCEAN NOIR Editions Gallimard 2009.

2009- Personal exhibition: William Wilson’s Sovereign Art -Tentures and collages-

Philippe LAWSON Gallery. 16 rue des Carmes 75005 Paris

2009-2010-2011. The Black Ocean The Black Ocean, O Oceano negro is on display. In France, Italy, Israel, Mali, Belgium, Switzerland, Senegal, United States, Togo and Benin.

Currently WW is working on the collage of fabrics on paper (see recent works section).

The exhibitions of the L’Océan Noir series continue in French Guiana in August and September 2015, and The Textile Museum in Washington DC from March to August 2016 …

March 2013 at Gallimard-Giboulées; “Samangalé tales woven and mixed” 10 tales freely illustrated with works of WW …

2013 artist residency at IFITRY, Morocco. Exhibition in Casablanca: April 2014, March 2016 he was introduced to red earth ceramics and produced several hundred dishes, plates etc….

Artist residency at SACATAR, Bahia, Brazil. July August 2013

during this residency he held an O Oceano negro Exhibition. Casa do Benin, Salvador do Bahia August 2013

October 2014 residency at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor. USA) exhibition

“And I endlessly create myself: The black Ocean series”

2015:

July 10-13, 2015: Drapos Vaudou / Vaudou flags. Participation in the Santafé FolkArt Market with the work carried out in Haiti and in collaboration with Valentin Valris. SantaFé New Mexico USA.

2016:

May-June-July The Black Ocean Saint Laurent du Maroni. Guyana

April-September: The Black Ocean Textile Museum Washinton DC USA.

2017:

December 10, 2016- May 28, 2017. Haiti an island leeward of history. Museum of the New World La Rochelle. France

etc …