b. 1944
Jimmy Wright (b. 1944, Kentucky) has lived and worked in New York since the early 1970s. In 1967, he received his BFA with honors from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1971, his MFA from Southern Illinois University.
Fierman released a limited edition publication of Wright’s tearoom drawings, featuring writing by Alissa Bennett and Alison Gingeras, published by Heinzfeller Nileisist. In 2016 Corbett Vs. Dempsey published a major monograph of his work from the 1970s entitled New York Underground.
Wright stopped making this body of work as the AIDS crisis wracked the gay community and New York changed. The extant drawings from the period as such serve as a dreamlike document of an oft mythologized cultural moment. The first of Wright’s many flower works were painted 1988-91, in homage to the artist’s partner who had recently died of AIDS.
Wright’s professional associations include the Pastel Society of America where he has served as President since 2013, the advisory editorial boards of The Pastel Journal magazine and The Artist’s Magazine and the 1866 Founder’s Circle at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His teaching activity includes programs at the Ox-Bow School of Art, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Southern Illinois University.
Fierman released a limited edition publication of Wright’s tearoom drawings, featuring writing by Alissa Bennett and Alison Gingeras, published by Heinzfeller Nileisist. In 2016 Corbett Vs. Dempsey published a major monograph of his work from the 1970s entitled New York Underground.
Wright stopped making this body of work as the AIDS crisis wracked the gay community and New York changed. The extant drawings from the period as such serve as a dreamlike document of an oft mythologized cultural moment. The first of Wright’s many flower works were painted 1988-91, in homage to the artist’s partner who had recently died of AIDS.
Wright’s professional associations include the Pastel Society of America where he has served as President since 2013, the advisory editorial boards of The Pastel Journal magazine and The Artist’s Magazine and the 1866 Founder’s Circle at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His teaching activity includes programs at the Ox-Bow School of Art, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Southern Illinois University.
