Noted Artist Wiley Featured at UA’s Sarah Moody Gallery of Art

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Noted artist William T. Wiley will be the focus of an exhibition and lecture in April at The University of Alabama.

UA’s Sarah Moody Gallery of Art will present Wiley in a lecture at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in 205 Smith Hall. The gallery then will open its 2011 Farley Moody Galbraith Endowed Exhibition, “William T. Wiley: Desperate Ours” with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 7. The exhibit will appear through May 20.

Wiley has spent much of the last 50 years producing memorable works and influencing students and contemporaries alike. The UA exhibit follows retrospectives at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2009 and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in 2010.

Wiley’s works are infused with references to popular culture, art history and literature. They walk the viewer through his personal ruminations and commentaries on current affairs.

Wiley’s works appeared in the 1980 Venice Biennial and 1983 Whitney Biennial. He also had major exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art , the M.H. deYoung Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

His recent awards include the 2004 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship Award and a 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Graphics International Conference in Washington, D.C .

This exhibition was organized through the courtesy of the John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation and William T. Wiley and is supported by the Farley Moody Galbraith Exhibition Fund.

The Sarah Moody Gallery of Art is supported by The College of Arts and Sciences and the department of art and art history. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

The gallery is at 103 Garland Hall on Woods Quad. There is no admission charge. For more information, contact the gallery at 205/348-1891 or go to www.art.ua.edu/site/galleries/sarah-moody-gallery-of-art/.

The department of art and art history is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.