World-Renowned Artist Fred Wilson Joins the Board of the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art
December 4, 2024 | Purchase, NY Fred Wilson, a conceptual artist who challenges assumptions of history, culture, race, and display, has joined the Board of the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art. For more than fifty-two years, the Friends organization has supported the Museum and ensured that it continues to grow and evolve.
Located at the heart of the Purchase College, State University of New York (SUNY) campus, the Neuberger is one of the nation’s most respected and important academic art museums. Wilson earned his BFA at Purchase and graduated with the new College’s first four-year class in 1976. He received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (genius) Grant Award (1999) and the Larry Aldrich Foundation Award (2003); he represented the United States at the Cairo Bienniale (1992) and Venice Biennale (2003).
“Purchase College is at the heart of my success as an artist, and The Neuberger is the reason for my youthful, nascent passion, understanding and critical curiosity about museums that eventually thrust me into the limelight,” said Wilson. “I owe my artistic career to these two institutions. I am forever in their debt.”
In his work, Wilson explores themes tied to histories of colonization and enslavement, critiques the imbrication of art history and art institutions with these histories, and transforms these histories via site-specific installations. His interventions in museums have underscored the biases of the Western canon and the exhibition practices that derived from it. Wilson reframes the roles Indigenous, Black, and other historically oppressed groups have played in producing Western art worlds through wall texts, the rearrangement and manipulation of objects and spaces. His solo exhibition, Fred Wilson, was on view at the Neuberger in spring 2017. Wilson was named the Museum’s Passionate Artist for 2024 during the Golden Anniversary Gala Celebration in April 2024.
In February, the Museum and the Purchase College Global Black Studies and Media Studies programs launched The Fred Wilson Lectures in Global Black Studies to honor Wilson’s achievements and those of other Black makers and thinkers who shape our creative and cultural landscapes. The Fred Wilson Lectures are generously supported by the family of Stanley H. Helsel through a Museum education fund named in his memory.
“We are thrilled to welcome Fred as the newest member of our Board,” says Paul Zukowsky, Chair of the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art. “As a Purchase College alumnus and globally recognized artist, art historian, and cultural leader, he will bring unique insights and perspectives to our Board.”
“Fred Wilson’s addition to the Board of the Friends organization is especially meaningful as we continue to celebrate the Museum’s 50th anniversary throughout 2024,” said Dr. Tracy Fitzpatrick, Museum Director. “His connections to the campus community and his insights into the constantly evolving world of contemporary art will strengthen the Museum’s efforts to implement our mission and recently developed strategic plan.”
The Neuberger Museum of Art opened on the campus of Purchase College, State University of New York, in 1974 with a core collection donated by Roy R. Neuberger, one of the greatest private collectors, philanthropists, and arts advocates of the twentieth century. Its collection has grown to nearly 7,000 objects. Today, critically acclaimed exhibitions, tours, lectures, and interactive programs for patrons of all ages make the Neuberger a center of teaching and learning for all stages of life.
Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of sixty-four universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students. Today, Purchase College, SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity.
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