ED WILSON AMERICAN SCULPTOR

With this body of work created in 2024 - 2025. Ed Wilson entered a striking new phase in his artistic journey as he prepared for his exhibition at Redbud Art Center in Houston TX. Known previously for his direct, often literal visual statements, such as the iron-cast Uzi in his 2010s-piece Carnage, where the word itself erupts from the barrel, Wilson’s earlier work didn’t leave much to interpretation. It was deliberate, pointed, and at times, provocative.

But something shifted after his cancer diagnosis and treatment. He returned to the studio and quietly started crafting small, fabricated steel toy cars, ostensibly “for his grand kids.” Whether as a way to process his own experience or to reconnect with memories of family and childhood, these sculptures marked the beginning of a deeply introspective new body of work.

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These amorphic shapes defy the usual definition of fabricated steel, recalling instead the qualities of pottery or hand formed  clay. The artist, in effect, is carving steel. After constructing a form from small carefully cut planes of stainless steel, Wilson builds up the seams with excess melted filler metal from base steel “stick” rods fed from his welding torch. These built-up areas are then carved back and polished, transforming the sharp intersections into fluid curved surfaces. The result is a body of forms that feel less brutal and industrial and more reminiscent of a 1960s Mattel vacuum-formed toys. One of the trucks is even a piggy bank, the piece being named "Banker" and is depicted moving along and inclined curve in the road. 

In these works, Wilson’s sculptures have become far more conceptual, less about replicating an object, and more about evoking a feeling, a memory, or a sense of play. These are not literal renderings, but vessels of remembrance, inviting viewers to project their own stories into the spaces he creates. This latest chapter in Ed Wilson’s career feels less like a return and more like a metamorphosis. The steel is still there, but now it breathes. -  d. m. allison 08-08-2025