Presently, Richard Wilson resides in Wendell, North Carolina and operates from his private studio in Raleigh, North Carolina. Over the span of a remarkable 30-year career, he has excelled as a prolific professional artist, versatile freelance and corporate graphic designer, and dedicated college art educator. With an exquisite mastery of technique and a subject matter that resonates universally, Richard's work garners acclaim from fellow artists and enjoys wide-ranging popularity. His narrative paintings often revolve around his own family, prominently featuring his daughters. Wilson's artistic forte lies in his ability to select those poignant moments that transcend the personal realm and resonate with a broader audience. His paintings evoke nostalgia, capture the profound bonds unique to family, and illuminate the challenges of life; in all his works, a thread of warmth and subtlety weaves through.
Notably, Richard Wilson undertakes numerous commission portraits, demonstrating a remarkable talent for extracting personality and depth from his subjects, faithfully represented in his realistic style. His body of work finds a place of honor in numerous public and private art collections. An extraordinary milestone in his career occurred when he made history in North Carolina by becoming the first African American artist to have a portrait painting publicly displayed in a North Carolina courthouse. This momentous achievement is encapsulated in his portrait of George Henry White, the last former slave to serve in Congress, which now proudly adorns the walls of the Edgecombe County Superior Courthouse in Tarboro, North Carolina.
Richard Wilson has also received widespread recognition in various publications, further solidifying his status as a master of contemporary art. In February 2021, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine acknowledged him as one of today's masters. In November 2018, The Wall Street Journal featured him and acclaimed writer Daniel Grant dubbed him "one of the most successful artists you're likely to meet." Wilson was twice featured in Our State magazine in 2020 and gained recognition in the Pastel Journal in 2019 after securing the top prize in the Pastel 100 International Art Competition with his renowned pastel painting, "Jack Johnson."
His influence extends beyond traditional art forms; in 2016, Blue Moon Brewing Company selected Richard Wilson as one of the 20 Up-and-Coming Artists in the United States to design a Limited-Edition label for their 20th Anniversary Blue Moon Artist Series bottles. His work has also found its way into the realms of movies and television, featuring in productions such as NBC's "This Is Us," the movie "Barbershop: The Next Cut," Netflix's "Raising Dion" Season 2, "The Trap," and Starz's "BMF."
In 2018, the University of Georgia commissioned Wilson to paint the portrait of Mary Frances Early, the first African American to graduate from the institution. More recently, Wilson has been commissioned to paint six additional portraits for the university, including those of Dr. Shirley Mathis McBay, the first Black doctoral graduate and the first woman to earn a doctoral degree in mathematics from the university. His portfolio also includes portraits of Dr. Harold A. Black, Dr. Mary Blackwell Diallo, and Dr. Kerry Rushin Miller, the first African American freshmen to graduate with an undergraduate degree from UGA. Additionally, he was commissioned to paint the first two African Americans to attend UGA, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault.
Richard Wilson's beloved Southern Girl Series has captured the attention of two museums within the state of North Carolina. His original pastel painting "Under the Southern Blue Sky" was recently acquired by the Greenville Museum of Arts, and the North Carolina Museum of Arts now features his Southern Girl & Landscape Series in their gift shop. Notably, the International Tennis Hall of Fame has added one of Wilson's celebrated Shadow Series paintings, titled "In His Shadow – Arthur Ashe," to their permanent collection. This particular piece portrays a young boy inspired by the tennis legend Arthur Ashe.