Born in 1987, Wilder was raised by monkey-wolves in Newton, Massachusetts, where he developed lifelong passions for art, natural history, and tree-climbing. After graduating from Wesleyan University in 2009, he moved to New York where he continues to pursue his passions today.
Although Wilder's artwork can be classified as still life, he enjoys pushing the conventional boundaries of the genre through his use of Surrealist and absurdist elements. While utilizing naturalistic realism to create the illusion of life, Wilder also employs painterly devices to remind the viewer that ze is ultimately regarding a flat plane, and thereby subverts the historically serious enterprise of faithfully depicting three dimensions on a 2-dimensional surface.
Self-taught rogue taxidermist and professional specimen preparator, Wilder worked for several years at The Evolution Store creating, repairing, and restoring objects of natural historical interest such as taxidermy, fossils, seashells, minerals, insects, tribal sculptures, and articulated skeletons both animal and human. He also put these skills to use as a volunteer preparator in the Exhibitions department of the American Museum of Natural History. Wilder taught his bat skeleton articulation workshop for three years at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, and still teaches classes in NYC, San Francisco, and Toronto. Wilder continues to perform detailed work for private collectors, giving a new life to old mounts, and new smiles to toothless skulls.
Wilder finds inspiration and humor in the bizarre intersection of the natural world with human society. He is fascinated by life and death, animals, evolution, mechanisms of dominance, the strange, and the future, and he attempts to synthesize and compose these concepts into cohesive epic masterpieces. Through the juxtaposition of diverse objects and images of personal symbolic significance from various eras, Wilder attempts to illustrate his understanding of, and frustrations with, the world. He modestly hopes to encourage his audience to organically consider what it is to be human, what it is to have a mind, and the general unfathomable enormity of existence. In this world of 7.5 billion people rushing headlong towards nearly-inevitable, Trump-led global catastrophe, Wilder strives to make sense of the absurd and nonsense of the status quo.
Here's a vlog about me!
Please direct all questions and comments to [email protected]
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All images © 2017 Wilder Duncan. All rights reserved.
Although Wilder's artwork can be classified as still life, he enjoys pushing the conventional boundaries of the genre through his use of Surrealist and absurdist elements. While utilizing naturalistic realism to create the illusion of life, Wilder also employs painterly devices to remind the viewer that ze is ultimately regarding a flat plane, and thereby subverts the historically serious enterprise of faithfully depicting three dimensions on a 2-dimensional surface.
Self-taught rogue taxidermist and professional specimen preparator, Wilder worked for several years at The Evolution Store creating, repairing, and restoring objects of natural historical interest such as taxidermy, fossils, seashells, minerals, insects, tribal sculptures, and articulated skeletons both animal and human. He also put these skills to use as a volunteer preparator in the Exhibitions department of the American Museum of Natural History. Wilder taught his bat skeleton articulation workshop for three years at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, and still teaches classes in NYC, San Francisco, and Toronto. Wilder continues to perform detailed work for private collectors, giving a new life to old mounts, and new smiles to toothless skulls.
Wilder finds inspiration and humor in the bizarre intersection of the natural world with human society. He is fascinated by life and death, animals, evolution, mechanisms of dominance, the strange, and the future, and he attempts to synthesize and compose these concepts into cohesive epic masterpieces. Through the juxtaposition of diverse objects and images of personal symbolic significance from various eras, Wilder attempts to illustrate his understanding of, and frustrations with, the world. He modestly hopes to encourage his audience to organically consider what it is to be human, what it is to have a mind, and the general unfathomable enormity of existence. In this world of 7.5 billion people rushing headlong towards nearly-inevitable, Trump-led global catastrophe, Wilder strives to make sense of the absurd and nonsense of the status quo.
Here's a vlog about me!
Please direct all questions and comments to [email protected]
All images © 2017 Wilder Duncan. All rights reserved.