Fred Wilson: Black Like Me

Never hesitant to explore new territory, Fred Wilson, in a major solo exhibition at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, displays his growing interest in the medium of glass. He has taken the title of the exhibition, Black Like Me, from John Howard Griffin's groundbreaking 1961 book of the same name. A white civil-rights activist, Griffin dyed his skin black and traveled throughout the South to directly understand the nature of racial prejudice. Wilson, invited in 2002 to be an artist-in-residence at the Philchuck Glass School in Washington State, began to work in the medium, leading to his extensive use of it as the United States' representative for the 2003 Venice Biennale. Known for incorporating found objects into his art as a vehicle for cultural and institutional critique, Wilson takes a new, more personal, introspective direction in his exploration of racial and ethnic marginalization.