Gerald Wiggins
b. 1968, Alabama ∙ CE artist since 2008
Photo by Evguenia Shtill
Gerald Wiggins (b. 1968, Alabama) is a painter, ceramicist and mixed media artist best known for his figural sculptures and works on paper. Through his iconic forms, Wiggins builds a visual landscape that he expands with every new creation. Wiggins has been an artist with Creativity Explored since 2008, where he continues to push the boundaries of artistic worldbuilding.
Wiggins cites his inspiration for making as "just trying to make [people] happy, because there is not enough happiness." Skilled in an array of mediums, his two-dimensional works range from intricate collages to watercolor cityscapes to detailed portraits. Wiggins also creates ceramic sculptures, many of which depict people, animals, and mythical creatures. Across media, Wiggins experiments with subjecthood and placemaking in ways that are imaginative yet palpable. He is able to bring the figures he envisions to life with creations that utilize dimension, depth, and expression.
Wiggins has been featured in over forty exhibitions throughout his tenure at Creativity Explored. He made his curatorial debut with the exhibition Shoerageous in 2014, which was a joint curatorial project with Joseph “JayD” Green. Wiggins recently exhibited a selection of pyrographic pieces in Creativity Explored’s Inside Angle exhibition space, an experimental worldbuilding scene born of his interest in the medium. His work has been featured in dozens of group exhibitions, including Into the Brightness at the Oakland Museum of California and Black Gold: Stories Untold at FOR-SITE.
Select Exhibitions & Projects
2025
“Limitless,” Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
“Main Characters,” Creativity Explored, SF, CA
“Black Gold: Stories Untold,” FOR-SITE, SF, CA
“Creativity Explored Outer Space,” Outerspace Gallery, Concord, NH
2024
“Art is Art: Creativity Explored at Rare Device,” Rare Device, SF, CA
“Hues,” Office of Senator Scott Wiener, SF, CA
“The Record Store,” Creativity Explored, SF, CA
“Outside Forces 2024,” Offsite, Art Enables, Washington, DC
2023
“Into the Brightness,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco CA
“Become Like Life Golden,” Recology, SF, CA
2022
“New Generations, Fertile Ground,” NCECA, Sacramento, CA
2021
“Blackiful,” Creativity Explored, San Francisco CA
“Mode Brut,” Museum of Craft and Design, SF, CA
“Mode Brut,” Saks Fifth Avenue, SF, CA
2020
CE x CG x NIAD x Save Art Spaces Public Art Project, San Francisco, CA
Local Lens, Rare Device , San Francisco, CA
Playing with Scale, Playspace Gallery at California College for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
UNTITLED ART FAIR , San Francisco, CA
2018
Neighbors: Art from Next Door, Black & Blue Tattoo, San Francisco, CA
Monster Drawing Rally, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
Everything is Quiet: Gerald Wiggins Solo Show, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
"From" All Over the Place, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco, CA
Faces and Places in the City, Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Library, San Francisco, CA
2017
Bride of Monster, Creativity Explored, San Francisco
Art and Advocacy, California Museum, Sacramento, CA
Black White, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2016
Natural History, Creativity Explored Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Celebrating a Vision: Art and Disability, SFO Museum , San Francisco Airport
Tabula Rasa, Creativity Explored , San Francisco, CA
2014
Shoerageous, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
INK, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
A Curious Menagerie, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2013
Outsider Artists, Oakland International Airport, Oakland, CA
SIDESHOW, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Undercover Genius: The Creative Lives of Artists with Disabilities, Petaluma Arts Center, Petaluma, CA
For the Birds, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2012
Are We There Yet?, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2011
Hands on Clay, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
SMALL, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Black and White and Read All Over, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2010
Ritual/Habitual, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Spectrum, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Santos y Otros Creatures, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2009
"Science" Fiction, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
