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Megan Wilson is a visual artist based out of San Francisco. Wilson’s large-scale installations and public projects utilize a broad range of pop culture methodologies and aesthetics as a point of entry and engagement for the issues she addresses conceptually. She's used traditional crafts, interior design, and sign painting to explore the meanings of “home” and “homelessness;” public murals and street art as a strategy for challenging corporate values and the surface aesthetics of capitalism; public video projections as an alternative to corporate messaging; and performance through the embodiment of a bright pink, cuddly pig with a big grin to represent corporate criminals, doling out their token “Lies,” “Toxic Debt,” and “Dirty Tricks.” Her project 99% used hand painted signs as a form of viral messaging in support of the Occupy movement, as well as a model for providing a livable wage for labor.
In 2000 Wilson co-organized the performance/protest series Art Strikes Back in response to the unprecedented and unrestricted level of gentrification and displacement in San Francisco during the "dotcom boom." In 2003 she curated and co-organized the international exchange and residency Sama-sama/Together, a collaboration between community arts organizations and artists from San Francisco (USA) and Yogyakarta (Indonesia) designed to foster understanding of Muslim and non-Muslim cultures following 9/11. From 2004 – 2008 she transformed her 1,600 sq. ft. living space into an installation that explored and challenged the meanings of “home” and “homelessness” through her project Home 1996-2008. Wilson is a co-organizer of the Clarion Alley Mural Project and one of the organizers of CAPITALISM IS OVER! If You Want It, an ongoing movement of interruptions/actions by artists from around the world in response to the need for a fundamental shift in our approach to Capitalism and the negative impact it has on the environment, health, and wellbeing of all.
Wilson received her BFA from the University of Oregon and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art (S.F.), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Southern Exposure, Intersection for the Arts, The Luggage Store, the San Francisco Arts Commission, Sun Valley Center for the Arts (ID), thirtyninehotel (Honolulu, HI), Green Papaya (Manila), Print It! (Barcelona), and LIP (Yogyakarta). She has created public projects in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tokyo, Japan; Yogyakarta & Bali, Indonesia; Jaipur, India, and Manila Philippines. Wilson is a recipient of grant awards from the Gunk Foundation, Artadia, the Asian Cultural Council, the Ford Foundation, the San Francisco Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, and the San Francisco Art Commission. Wilson’s work is included in FRESH 1: Cutting Edge Illustrations in 3D and FRESH 2: Cutting Edge Illustrations in Public edited by Slanted; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 75 Years of Looking Forward, edited by Janet Bishop, Corey Keller, Sarah Roberts; Street Art San Francisco Mission Muralismo, edited by Annice Jacoby; Mural Art: Murals on Huge Public Surfaces Around the World by Kirakoss Iosifidis; Illustration: Play - Craving for the Extraordinary, Published by Victionary; Sama-sama/Together: An International Exchange Project Between Yogyakarta and San Francisco, Published by Jam Karet; and The Gallery at Villa Montalvo: Selected Exhibitions from 1996-2000, edited by Theres Rohan.
Statement
My current work addresses the need for a fundamental shift from free-market Capitalism that puts profit before all else and negatively impacts the environment, health, and wellbeing of all (see my Points to Consider on the State of Free Market Capitalism). We’re all active and/or passive participants in Capitalism. However, it’s not helpful to approach the existing system from a place of polarity - either you live completely off the grid or you’re a Capitalist. I’m interested in creative forms of engagement for provoking deeper considerations of these issues. Influences include economist E.F. Schumacher, environmentalist Vandana Shiva, economist, Raj Patel, social activist Naomi Klein, philosopher Slavoj Žižek, economist Richard D. Wolff, and economist Robert Reich.
Additionally, I’ve been a practitioner of Buddhism for over ten years and Vipassana meditation for over five. Both are closely tied to my art practice – and my art is closely tied to my Buddhist and meditation practices. I often create art that is conceptually rooted in elements of these practices and that is intentionally ephemeral or that I give away. Much of my work is no longer in existence because it was never meant to be permanent - forcing the viewer/consumer, as well as myself, to let go of any expectations of its monetary worth. This is not to say that I don’t appreciate or create work that’s collectible and/or consumer-based; I do create and appreciate such work. However, it is integral to my practice to challenge myself in ways that are always pushing me to evolve, including the creation of work that's impermanent or gifted.
Curriculum Vitate (printable
PDF)
Recent, Current & Upcoming Projects/Exhibitions & News:
Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 7:30pm
Lecture Hall
Free and open to the public
San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA
The Roxie is the oldest continuously running theater in the United States and the second oldest in the world, opening at its current location in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1909. With film screenings and events 364 days per year, the Roxie promotes and preserves experimental art cinema, repertory movies, unusual foreign films, and other rare and daring gems. In 2008 the Roxie became a nonprofit organization, committed to remaining a critical and historical center for film, culture, and contemporary practices in the direct community and beyond. Discussing the Roxie’s work is Christopher Statton, Executive Director; Mike Keegan, Director of Programming; Catie Roads Redhouse, Filmmaker and Membership Director; and Megan Wilson, Artist and Non-profit Development & Management.
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Clarion Alley Mural Project is always happy to share our work - it's FREE - but we have drawn the line for most commercial purposes ... PLEASE contact us for written permission ... and if we do agree, PLEASE give the artists and CAMP credit. One of the things that has made Clarion Alley a unique space is that we've been going strong for over 20 years as a volunteer-run space without commercial ties. The few times that we have agreed to allow commercial projects to film on the alley, we've gone through a long process of ensuring compensation and credit to the artists & CAMP.
We were disappointed and felt disrespected that the creators of About Cherry, the Stephen Elliott / James Franco film used Megan Wilson's CAPITALISM IS OVER! If You Want It and Jet Martinez and Kelly Ording's Sons of Satya footage from CAMP without permission or credit - since they had been given Megan Wilson's card as a contact and told that if they did use the footage they would need to get written permission from the artists and CAMP.
CAMP appreciated Lenny Kravitz and Jay Z's team for their respectful attention to CAMP and the artists (Ray Patlan, Brian & Jasper Tripp, Aaron Noble, Edwin Garro, Ivy McClelland, J Garcia, Julie Murray, and MARS) featured in the music video Storm.
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Megan Wilson, Fresh, Roxie Theater, bathroom mural, 2012
New Installation at the Roxie Theater in conjunction with Clarion Alley Mural Project's 20th Anniversary
October 2012
In honor and celebration of the Clarion Alley Mural Project’s 20th Anniversary, the Roxie Theater is featuring murals by artists from CAMP in the theater’s Little Roxie lobby, bathrooms, and storefront window. Additionally, the Roxie will present an evening of shorts filmed on Clarion Alley over the past twenty years, including rare archival footage from filmmaker Fiona O’Conner Devereux of the first murals in the Alley, narrated by CAMP co-founder Rigo 23 (Thursday, October 18, 7pm).
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Block Party Mural by Daniel Doherty, 2012
Clarion Alley Mural Project Block Party!
October 20, 2012
12noon - 9pm
Clarion Alley (between Mission & Valencia and 17th & 18th streets)
San Francisco
Clarion Alley Mural Project (aka CAMP) is turning 20 this year!
To celebrate, we're throwing a diverse open-air party Saturday, October 20, 2012 in Clarion Alley. The early attractions start at noon with a children's costume contest (to look like murals!!) and a parade led by Brass Liberation Orchestra. Later, events unfold to chill afternoon scoping of new murals and catching up with friends in real life. As the sun goes down, projections, secret musical guests and performances from CAMP stalwarts like ex-Vomica members will abound. This block party is always free and open to the public, with live music from noon to 9pm. Every year we throw this party to raise funds to help take care of the existing murals and to create new ones.
Clarion Alley Mural Project has been a grass roots project from beginning to end, organized by a handful of individuals who volunteered thousands of hours, and with the added generosity of many, many community members who've committed their time and energy to CAMP over the past 20 years. Its possible that such a project could only be done by a small group of committed friends. Big institutions with paid staffs, enviable office facilities, and large materials budgets also have institutional strictures, competing curatorial agendas, levels of prestige to be maintained, ponderous decision-making processes, star power and quota considerations in the selection of artists and bottom line revenue projections to be taken into account. Could a project based on the affinities of artists, characterized by a rejection of western fine art hierarchies, with no enhancement of the market value of stored artworks, ever make its way through that gamut? In a city that rapidly changing to cater to the one-percent at every level, CAMP is one the last remaining truly punk venues in San Francisco.
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Megan Wilson, Home, 2012, acrylic on wood panels, 22" x 24"
THE COALITION ON HOMELESSNESS
ART AUCTION '12
WHEN: Thursday, September 18, 2012, 5:30 - 10pm
WHERE: SOMArts, 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco
TICKETS: $25, $50, $75 sliding scale
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Megan Wilson (with Christopher Statton), OM, 12' x 11' Installation, 2012
Warehouse 416
416 26th St. (Btwn Telegraph & Broadway)
Oakland, CA
August 3, 2012 - September 29, 2012
:::OPENING RECEPTION::: Friday, August 3rd 6-10pm In conjuction with Oakland Art Murmur
:::CLOSING RECEPTION::: Saturday, September 29th 1-5pm
:::GALLERY HOURS::: EVERY Saturday, 1-5pm or by appointment gallery@warehouse416.com
I.MAGIC.NATION ::: A nostalgic journey through childhood in the 70’s...
We grew up in a world where the power of imagination and magical thought filled our minds and our televisions. The 70's were a period of original, brilliant educational programming. The airwaves on Saturday mornings were full of brightly bizarre creations that were meant to ready us for the world. Songs, colors and strange characters taught us everything from basic counting to how a bill becomes a law. These lessons helped us to develop our own special worlds. Our nostalgic brains have translated our memories of what we took in as kids and how it has affected us as adults.
Curated by Bunnie Reiss and Ezra Li Eismont
::: ARTISTS:::
Bunnie Reiss
Casey Oneal
Christopher Statton
Ezra Li Eismont
Leighton Kelly
Maria Fatima Urbi
Megan Wilson
Melanin AKA Deadeyes
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Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
701 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
July 7 - October 14, 2012
Opening: Occupy Bay Area Night
Jul 7, 2012 6:00pm
Grand Lobby $5 general admission/ FREE for YBCA members
Since its inception in September 2011, the Occupy Movement has generated both praise and condemnation. A direct response to the financial instability, subprime mortgage crisis and the decline of trust in the government’s ability to effectively address the problems in the labor market, it continues to resonate in the American consciousness. In response to the significant output of art and documentation produced in support of the Occupy Movement in Oakland and San Francisco, YBCA has put together an exhibition of works that have proven to be particularly effective in supporting the goals and aspirations of the Movement. Impressively, various political poster artists devoted their talents to messaging the politics and culture of the movement by creating iconic images — designs that were a call to action, or posters announcing an upcoming event. In many ways these works, by twenty-five Bay Area artists, carry forward the region’s long tradition as a leader in political struggles, from the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s, to struggles by communities of color in the 1970s, to AIDS activism in the 1980s. The exhibition also includes a selection of photojournalistic and documentary photography and video that serve as a record of the events around the Occupy Movement.
Additionally, to connect to earlier movements and provide a historical context for the project, the exhibition includes posters and photographs from other political struggles, including the Black Panther Party, I-Hotel in Manilatown (1968–77); the ARC/AIDS Vigil at City Hall (1985–95); the Occupation of Alcatraz (1969–71); the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley (1964–65); and the San Francisco State University protests, to gain an Ethnic Studies program and Black Student Union demands (1968–69).While these earlier movements certainly differ in ways from Occupy, they all are the result of a deep desire for marginalized peoples to be represented and treated fairly.
This exhibition is not meant to represent a fully executed social history, but is a testament of the power of images to evoke the emotional expression of popular and wide-spread sentiments. By localizing our efforts, we also pay special tribute to the role that Bay Area artists have played in giving voice to the 99% and utilizing art as an effective vehicle for social change.
Poster artists: Rich Black, Zerena Diaz, Cannon Dill, Digniad Rebelde (Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza), Eric Drooker, Alexandra Fisher, Dave Garcia, Ronnie Goodman, Jason Justice, Gabby Miller and Miriam Klein Stahl, Nuclear Winter Art, Occupy Design, Political Gridlock (Jon-Paul Bail), Cristy C. Road, Faviana Rodriguez, Chris Shaw, Colin Smith, Winston Smith, Chuck Sperry, Xavier Veramontes, Gregoirire Vion, Fred Zaw, Anonymous artists
Aligned artists: Sergio de la Torre, Kota Ezawa, Eric Drooker, Megan Wilson, Suzanne Lacy, Sanaz Mazinani
Artists of historical posters & photographs: Robert Bechtle, Emory Douglas, Rupert Garcia, Ilka Hartmann, Steven Marcus, “Indian Joe” Morris, Rachael Romero, Sheila Tully, Anonymous artists
Photojournalism and video artists: Li Chen Ewen Wright
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Intersection for the Arts presents the year ahead in art and innovation at The Changemaker Social!
JUNE 30TH
7PM
INTERSECTION FOR THE ARTS
925 Mission Street, Suite 109
San Francisco, CA 94103
Silent auction, featuring the work of top tier artists at affordable starting bids, from $25 and up!
* Tamara Albaitis * April Banks * Terry Berlier * Victor Cartagena * Adam Chin * Pablo Cristi * Binh Danh * Sergio de la Torre * Lauren DiCioccio * Ala Ebtekar * Nome Edonna * Eric Fischer * Katie Gilmartin * Matt Gonzalez * Taraneh Hemami * Dana Hemenway * Jason Jägel * Sean Marc Lee * Steve Lambert * Monique Lopez * Wendy MacNaughton * Stephani Martinez * Chris McCaw * Julio Cesar Morales * billy ocallaghan * Susan O’Malley * Lordy Rodriguez * Jos Sances * Winston Smith * Weston Teruya * Truong Tran * Megan Wilson * Imin Yeh *
Megan Wilson, Home Sectional (Manila) detail, quilling (paper), goauche, ink, 12" x 17" (unframed), 2009
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Stretcher, "Broadside Attractions," by Dorothy Santos, May 2012
Art Beat, “Broadside Attractions: Vanquished Terrains at Intersection for the Arts,” May 1, 2012
DewittCheng, “Broadside Attractions | Vanquished Terrains @ Intersection for the Arts, SF,” April 22, 2012
ArtBusiness, “Intersection for the Arts,” April 11, 2012
SF Weekly, “Broadside Attractions/Vanquished Terrains” Analog Rules by Silke Tudor, April 4, 2012
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BROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS | VANQUISHED TERRAINS opens:
APRIL 11, 2012 at INTERSECTION FOR THE ARTS 7 – 9pm
The exhibition will be up:
APRIL 11 – MAY 26, 2012
INTERSECTION FOR THE ARTS
925 Mission Street, Suite 109
San Francisco, CA 94103
www.broadsideattractions.com
OPENING RECEPTION Wednesday April 11, 7-9pm
FREE MEMBERS VIP RECEPTION Wednesday April 11, 6-7pm
RSVP ryan@theintersection.org
GALLERY & COMMUNITY HOURS Tuesdays – Saturdays, 12-6pm
OPEN PROCESS: YOUR STORIES MAKE THE EXPERIENCE
Group reading with writers in the exhibition Saturday, April 21, 2012, 2pm, FREE
Group reading with writers in the exhibition Saturday, April 28, 2012, 2pm, FREE
Reading list exploring how we share information provided by The San Francisco Public Library.
IN-COMMUNITY PROGRAM
Printing The Future In collaboration with Community Partners Oasis for Girls, WritersCorps, ReAllocate, and TechShop, a 10-week screenprinting, public art, and writing workshop for young women that explores positive change in our communities.
Broadside Attractions: Vanquished Terrains takes inspiration from the historical broadside and reflects on contemporary events and culture using the theme of “vanquished terrains” as a point of departure. Historically the broadside has been defined as a large sheet of paper printed on one side and designed to be plastered onto walls in public areas to announce events, proclamations, or news. Before newspapers, magazines, and the internet, there was the broadside.
Organized in collaboration with curators Megan Wilson and Maw Shein Win, this project is part of Intersection’s larger exploration of language, place, and storytelling that pays homage to the history of printed matter, highlights cross-disciplinary work between artists and writers, and embraces a 21st Century reinterpretation of one of the original forms of public communication.
- Kevin Chen, Program Director: Visual Arts, Literary & Jazz at Intersection
Artist | Writer pairs include:
Eliza Barrios | Myron Michael
Paul Bridenbaugh | Steve Gilmartin
Karrie Hovey | Elise Ficarra
Misa Inaoka | Jaime Cortez
Keiko Ishihara | Chaim Bertman
Patricia Kelly | Vince Montague
Dwayne Marsh | Nana Twumasi
Nathaniel Parsons | Ly Nguyen
Christine Ponelle | Annice Jacoby
Matthew Rogers | Maw Shein Win
Megan Wilson | Hugh Behm Steinberg
Liz Worthy | Jenny Bitner
You can find us on Facebook - with regular posts on the activities/events of our artists & writers at:
https://www.facebook.com/BroadsideAttractions
Huge THANK YOU to: QueridoMundo, Littoral Press/Lisa Rappoport and Kalyn Dobbs (project coordinator).
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OCCUPY THE SCREEN!
ROXIE THEATER
March 29, 2012, 7pm
3117 16th Street
San Francisco, CA
Co-Organized by: Christopher Statton, Roxie Theater; Julie Gilgoff, IFPTE Local 21; Megan Wilson, CAPITALISM IS OVER! If You Want It
Thursday, March 29th the Roxie Theater will host a film series and panel discussion to help bring historic context to social and economic protest movements, beginning with the Civil Rights' Movement, and extending to other movements that have reclaimed public spaces to protest injustice. The film night will serve as a continuation of the discussion brought to the forefront by the Occupy Movement. Now that the encampments have been dispersed, what are communities around the Bay Area doing to challenge social and economic inequities?
A segment of Newreel's documentary series of the Black Panther Party, What We Want, What We Belive will be featured with several short films, including AFT 2121: The Movie, Art Strikes Back, Yes Men's Guide to High Level Pranking, and Occupy SF - Veterans Day: Amos Gregory. The screening will be followed with a panel discussion. Panelists include:
Kiilu Nyasha, San Francisco-based journalist and former member of the Black Panther Party.
Amos Gregory, Veteran Artist (US Navy, Submarine Force), Founder, Veterans' Alley, San Francisco.
Reverend Paul Gaffney, Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy.
Ramneek Saini, Community Services Director for the San Francisco Labor Council
The People's Federal Credit Union (based out of Oakland) will also have a table set up to provide information on how to transfer your money from a big bank to a credit union.
The event will be FREE to the public with a suggested donation. 7pm
On What We Want, What We Believe:
"The invaluable Movement documentaries Newsreel produced furthered the work of the Black Panther Party and now provide the esdentail visual record of the Party's early days. The collection offers an extraordinary compilation that includes historic behind the scenes details taken from a wide range of interviews and contemporary events as well as the classic Newsreel films."
—Kathleen Cleaver, Communications Secretary, Black Panther Party, 1967–1971
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Megan Wilson, 99%, International Public Project, 2012
99%
ROXIE THEATER
WINDOW INSTALLATION
March 3 - April 3 2012
3117 16th Street
San Francisco, CA
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99% in progress, International Project, 2012
99% is a public art/street art project that speaks to the need for a fundamental shift in the status quo approach to current economic models, labor, the environment, human rights, and the health and wellbeing of all. In support of the OCCUPY! movement, I am making a series of hand painted signs (1000 to start) with the statement “We Are The 99%” in different languages (so far I have English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Gujarati, Telugu, Hebrew, Hungarian, German, Roma, Serbian/ Bosnian/ Croatian, Russian, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesian, Thai, Japanese, French, Italian, Czech, Slovakian, Polish, Dutch, Danish, Yiddish, Haitian, Swahili, Georgian, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Turkish, Vietnamese, Tamil, Armenian, Urdu, Estonian, Khmer, Burmese, Shoshone, Cherokee, and Sioux).
Big THANKS to translators and translator connectors: Eliza Barrios, Carolyn Castaño, Sarita Ahuja, Andre Ambrus, Srinivas Kuruganti, Kevin Chen, Violeta Krasni, Peter Haas, Taraneh Hemami, Juan Caguicla, Nano Warsono, Saideh Eftekhari, Christine Ahn, Ramon Murrillo, and Jake Thompson.
The signs all have bold black text on a color background painted on ¼” plywood in varying sizes. These are being distributed initially in San Francisco and Oakland to:
1. OccupySF and Occupy Oakland participants to be used at marches and protests – participants will be asked to display their signs in their home windows when not in use.
2. Folks who might not have time to participate in the actual occupation, but want to lend support – to place in their windows in solidarity of the movement.
3. Small businesses to place in their windows in support and solidarity of the movement.
I am working to raise the funds to employ assistants (artists/sign painters who are currently unemployed) at $20/hour (a livable wage in the Bay Area) to help create and distribute the signs.
The project will also be presented in Southeast Asia in 2012.
WE ARE THE 99% ARTISTS!
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Capital Offense: The End(s) of Capitalism
Beacon Arts
Saturday, January 28 – Sunday March 11, 2012
808 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, CA
TWCDC's, video of Pignapped, our collaborative action in summer 2010 that featured This Little Piggy Went To Market is part of Capital Offense: The End(s) of Capitalism, curated by Jennifer Gradecki and Renée Fox at Beacon Arts in Inglewood. Capital Offense presents a selection of artwork and writing chosen for its clarity in questioning, exposing and reflecting upon various aspects of the current global economic crisis and neoliberal global capitalism.
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