Jim Wiseman 1947-2021

Following a photography workshop at Center of the Eye in Aspen, Colorado, a twenty-year old Jim Wiseman photographed Quicksilver Messenger Service at Washington University, St. Louis. The resulting photos published in the underground newspaper Xanadu gained him an invitation to go onstage and photograph Jimi Hendrix in November 1968. You could say, Jimi changed Jim’s life. 

Having witnessed first-hand one of the greatest performers of his, or any generation, Jim was inspired to expand his imagery into performance art. 

Jim’s interest in experimental photography led him to an invitation from Jerry Garcia to photograph the Grateful Dead. Other assignments and opportunities included Joe Cocker, The Who, and The Rolling Stones, where Jim was onstage during the now infamous Altamont concert. 

Jim received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts, and his MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago. Jim was a student of Nam June Paik, and became an early adopter of the Pak/Abe Video Synthesizer, realizing his vision of performance art in gallery shows, and on television during the 1970s and 80s.

Jim’s works have been exhibited at MOMA, Paris Museum of Modern Art, Long Beach Museum of Art, Honolulu Museum of Art, the Walker Center Minneapolis, and gallery shows across the country.