Artist Profile: Wesley Winslow Wilson

Flirting with the disbelief that electronic art is only meant to be a source of entertainment, Wesley Winslow Wilson’s latest work in progress presents itself as a video game whose playfulness is met with intelligent dialogue about the issues Americans face on a regular basis. Wilson’s contribution to this discussion comes from his goal is to destroy the accepted American default.

Bothered by his own inherited white superiority, Wilson uses his sense of humor to help others realize the truth of our society and our obsession with whiteness in Default Avatars (2010). “You know its sad when a Japanese toy company designs its 3D models to look exactly like me!” Wilson comments as he refers to the Nintendo Wii’s main avatar. In this video, Wilson conveys how the Nintendo standard male icon eerily looks identical to him.

It is important to note, that no major manipulation was needed to assist with this particular demo. Every Nintendo Wii game counsel is equipped with this default avatar before the user is allowed to change its gender, body type, skin color, hair, and facial features. “I think its a joke that more people don’t complain about things like this, but it often goes unnoticed. It would be alarming if the default were fat and had dark skin.” The piece is a clever comment on commercial industries.

Be sure to support Wilson’s efforts by voting for him in the Artists Wanted Competition.Tweet