Anthony Wigglesworth

Biography

Anthony Wigglesworth (b. 1979, Dublin, Ireland)
M.Phil. Music and Media Technologies (1st Class Hons),
Trinity College Dublin (2013)

Biography

Anthony Wigglesworth (b. 1979) is a contemporary Irish artist whose multidisciplinary practice operates at the convergence of acoustical theory, information systems, and process-driven abstraction. Holding a Master of Philosophy in Music and Media Technologies from Trinity College Dublin, his studio investigations bridge visual rhythm, spatial illusion, and physical material.

His work is characterized by a process-driven investigation into the interplay between deterministic structures and stochastic systems, exploring the tension between ordered geometry and entropic dissolution. Utilizing custom-engineered tools and fluid dynamics, he navigates a continuous feedback loop between mechanical precision and organic unpredictability, where the artist’s calculated initial conditions meet the chaotic nature of the medium. This inquiry into responsive environments has been established through a significant exhibition history in New York and Miami. In 2019, his work was featured at The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery in Manhattan in the acclaimed exhibition Turbulence, alongside international artists represented in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most recently, he was one of three featured artists in the 2024 exhibition Genesis at the same venue, marking his third major presentation with the gallery.

Wigglesworth’s dialogue with Information Theory is further distilled in his modular ink drawings, which capture ideas of time, light, frequency, and music as visual information. Frequently showcased in major art capitals, his work has been a recurring fixture at Art Miami, Art New York, and Art Market San Francisco.

Over the past two decades, Wigglesworth has established a prominent international profile through major solo presentations such as Harmonic Fields (2023) and On The Surface Of It (2018). His large-scale work, Solar Storm, is currently installed at the Irish Consulate on Park Avenue, New York, in collaboration with Culture Ireland and Donghwa Ode Gallery.

Based in Dublin, his studio practice functions as a laboratory for psychoacoustic and visual phenomena, shaping conditions in which material, time, and perception continually converge.

Artist Statement

Anthony Wigglesworth’s practice functions as an investigation into the mechanics of information propagation, treating the canvas and paper as sites where time is rendered tangible. Rooted in an early engagement with music and the study of sound, his work explores the 'threshold of the before'—a state of potential energy where light, rhythm, and structure begin to organize into perceivable patterns. Positioning himself as a temporal engineer, Wigglesworth moves beyond mere abstraction to construct an architecture of duration and entropy.

In his ink drawings, Wigglesworth utilizes a highly disciplined, modular geometry to visualize the curtain of time. By layering thousands of discrete, incremental units, he maps the accumulation and dispersion of information across the surface of the paper. Each mark represents a quantized moment; collectively, they form a continuum of light and shadow that mimics the propagation of sound waves through a medium. These works function as chambers of light where the ordered repetition of forms creates a rhythmic frequency, inviting the viewer to witness the transition from structure to entropy.

This logic of sequence translates directly into his oil paintings, treating composition as an evolving, light-responsive event. Engaging with the fluid behavior of paint, Wigglesworth employs a versatile palette, ranging from vibrant color fields to dark monochrome and metallic silver, modulating viscosity to create dynamic optical surfaces. The resulting works interact continuously with surrounding light, offering surfaces that fluctuate, recede, and transform as time unfolds.

Rooted in his research in Music and Media Technologies (M.Phil., 1st Class Hons., Trinity College Dublin), this interdisciplinary approach investigates how the brain interprets and synthesizes aural and visual data—positioning the artwork as an active resonator for the internal rhythms of perception.

“My studio functions as a laboratory for psychoacoustic and optical phenomena. I view the artist not merely as a maker of forms, but as a temporal engineer, shaping controlled conditions in which perception, light, and material continually renegotiate one another.”

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