Early digital art career

Wilson studied HND Design (photography) from 1984-1986 at Blackpool and The Fylde College, where, according to Digital Art historian Grant Taylor,^[1] he was one of the first photographers to specialize in digital image manipulation. Aly Ray Smith believes Wilson was the first photographer who specialized in creating images using a $250,000 digital paint system known as a Quantel Paintbox^[2][3][4] which was launched nine years before Adobe Photoshop. Wilson created one of the earliest photographic memes and was included in the international "Art & Computers" exhibition^[5] at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art in 1988. Wilson wrote for Computer Images magazine, was a guest speaker on digital art at Camberwell College of Art and created digital art for a range of clients, most notably for Creative Review magazine and the cover of Gold Mother^[6] by recording artists James. In 1990, Wilson stopped creating digital art and put his archive into storage.

As a result of the renewed interest in early digital art, Wilson scanned his Quantel Paintbox archive and decided to donate it to the UK's National Science & Media Museum. Wilson marked the 40th anniversary of the Paintbox's launch by writing an article for TVtech^[7] magazine and a talk for the Computer Arts Society. On January 10, 2022, Blackpool School of Art, where Wilson first learned how to use the Quantel Paintbox, opened the first solo exhibition^[8] of his 1980's images.

Photography

Wilson specializes in photographing interiors^[9] and was the photographer for all Mondiale Publishing^[10] magazines, shooting hundreds of nightclubs^[11] between 1988 and 2000. In 2004, Wilson moved to New York,^[12] where he currently shoots for clients including LVMH^[13] The New York Times^[14] and Architectural Digest.^[15]

Galleries and art installations

Adrian Wilson salvaged a large collection of art from Manchester's textile warehouses in the 1980s, part of which is now displayed^[16] in the Science & Industry Museum in Manchester and the Museum of Art and Photography^[17] in Bangalore.

Wilson has given various talks on the collection, including at Typecon^[18] and as an expert on the Antiques Roadshow when it visited Manchester. In 2015, Wilson created "The Inutilious Retailer",^[19] an interactive art exhibit which was open for 10 months on Ludlow Street, NYC and won a Store of the Year award.^[20]

In 2018, Wilson created the "Space X Gallery" which he hid above a fake Boring Company start-up office in a derelict building in the Lower East Side,^[21] a one-man "Introspective"^[22] show about Jerry Saltz and a Native American art exhibition titled "Artonement".^[23]

Wilson opened the first gallery in Jean Michel Basquiat's last studio and home^[24] at 57 Great Jones St, NY and named it The "Same Old Gallery"^[25]

Art

Wilson is mostly known for his street art,^[26][27] specifically his makeover of NYC street and subway signs to honor icons such as David Bowie,^[28] Prince.^[29] Eddie Van Halen,^[30] Aretha Franklin,^[31] which the MTA made into a permanent tribute. Wilson never signs his work and only admitted the works were his^[32] following his attainment of U.S. citizenship in 2020.

Following the $450 million sale of the much restored Salvator Mundi and an $800,000 complete set of Supreme skateboard decks, Wilson created the "Supreme Mundi", which in 2019 sold as the world's most expensive skateboard.^[33]

In response to COVID-19, Wilson created several pandemic-related pieces (now in permanent collections at the Royal College of Art and V&A Museum^[34][35]) and collaborated with Heidi Hankaniemi to create a "Hazmask suit and dress" ^[36] to promote mask wearing which went viral.^[37]

In 2021, Wilson purchased one of the last 5 remaining Quantel Paintboxes in North America and restored it to working order.