An Exploration
My Work
Stone, the form, and its structure
I often leave as much as possible of the stone itself, in some sort of awe or admiration for the story locked inside, & the remains of ancient cultures with their testimonies. The historical use of stone as a material of memory-commemoration is perhaps born of that distant past, that will also connect with the future.
Spotlight
Click to explore the gallery images
Yemisi at her Studio
When I get to Vinterviken, where Yemisi Wilson has her studio, the sun is at its zenith and the noise of the city seems remote. A creative murmur has replaced it, and Yemisi is standing outside wearing a protective mask, holding her grinder at the ready…
Read the full article here
When I get to Vinterviken, where Yemisi Wilson has her studio, the sun is at its zenith and the noise of the city seems remote. A creative murmur has replaced it, and Yemisi is standing outside wearing a protective mask, holding her grinder at the ready. Once inside, we have coffee and talk about a coming exhibition. And about stone. Yemisi’s knowledge of the subject is profound, and she eagerly shares it with others. The studio teems with figures in everything from yellow marble from Sienna to sandstone and gray granite. Their scale runs from miniatures to the monumental. Yemisi’s sculptures are figurative; the works tend to manifest naturalistic precision – something that’s extra clear in her animal portraits. Here there’s an evident connection to the classical Italian heritage in sculpture, which she is also trained in. She finds it difficult to work with conceptual ideas and avoids sullying her art with theoretical frameworks. In her work with human portraits in porphyry, she abandoned the outright figurative in favor of a dialog with abstraction. The properties of porphyry are very different from those of, say, marble, where the softness invites you to create layers of playfulness in the lines, in the spaces between the convex and the concave. Porphyry is brittle yet very hard—the hardest stone Yemisi has ever worked with. It soon became evident that she couldn’t use her chisel to work sculpturally; instead, she had to rely on coarser tools and thereby find new entry points into the material. Familiar approaches had to give way to what the tools permitted. And that’s precisely where Yemisi’s strength lies: She allows her fascination and curiosity to trump frustration and fear of the unexplored.
2022
Exhibition on the island of Oaxen in Ettan’s lime kiln.
“Ancestors” Solo exhibition at Galleri Artsight, Stockholm.
Projects
Series of Work | Projects | Themes
Click image to see project page
Recent work | shows & events
Gallery Feed
There’s a thread connecting how Yemisi approaches each new assignment: she often dwells in the sphere of memory. She moves between an unconscious collective memory, the history of the place, and her own connotations of events, occurrences, and places.
– Martina MacQueen
Timeline of Most Recent Work
2023 - 2019
2023
Solo Exhibition ”Yemisi Wilson Sculpture in stone and bronze” Konsthallen ABC, Vällingby, Stockholm, Sweden.
Group exhibition in the historical lime kiln at the Island Oaxen, outside Södertälje, Sweden
Rosendahl Garden Party, Royal Djurgården, Stockholm. Sculptures in marble are exposed in the outdoor area of the festival.
2022
Exhibition on the island of Oaxen in Ettan’s lime kiln.
“Ancestors” Solo exhibition at Galleri Artsight, Stockholm.
2021
Galleri Nord, Örebro, Group Show. Yemisi’s sculpture is shown with Paintings by Arjuna Geir Aasehaug (November).
Horisont Hospital, Ulleråkers: invited to do a weeklong body of work at this ex-mental asylum which today is a cultural site. Subject: Augusta Strömberg in marble as well as a memorial plaque in marble for the deceased patients in the cemetery.
Landsort Skulpturön. Showed two hippos in concrete by the water and a head in gray granite
Oaxen, 26 sculptors exhibit in Ettan’s lime kiln on the island of Oaxen,(July).
12 Sculptors from the Sculptors’ Association exhibit at Ekebyhov Castle’s Park and Gallery (June).
Research week for 10 artists at Horisont Hospital, Ulleråkers Hospital Uppsala, through Konstfrämjandet Uppland and Uppsala Municipality.
“Dialogue” The solo exhibition at Gallery Studio Animar
Flat Octopus, Exhibition Case presents: “When will this end?” by Yemisi Wilson
Knivsta Municipality acquired a bronze hippopotamus and a horse head in yellow marble from Siena to be placed outdoors in the public space.
Uppsala Municipality acquired a marble rhinoceros for a school in Gottsunda.
2020
‘Dialogue’ Solo exhibition at Gallery Studio Animar, Gamla stan, Stockholm. -Solo Show
Galleri T, Stockholm; ‘Sculpture in marble and bronze’ Yemisi Wilson – Solo Show.
2019
Solo Shows: ‘Dialogue’ Solo exhibition at Gallery Studio Animar, Gamla stan, Stockholm. Galleri T, Stockholm; ‘Sculpture in marble and bronze’ Yemisi Wilson – Solo Show.
There’s a thread connecting how Yemisi approaches each new assignment: she often dwells in the sphere of memory. She moves between an unconscious collective memory, the history of the place, and her own connotations of events, occurrences, and places.
When I see Yemisi’s animal heads, I want to greet them in the same way I would greet a real animal, and if it were possible, I would like to greet them as an animal would greet another animal. The sculptures bring me down to this extraordinarily intimate level.
Yemisi Wilson has a unique position in the Stockholm art scene as a classically trained artist working in Sweden, who is also operating in the contemporary art scene.