About GBA

We are building an inclusive space for culture, commerce, and an ever-expanding community of artists, designers, and buyers.

GBA [Guilty By Association] is a digital bridge to empower the creative unseen, redistribute wealth, and re-engineer an antiquated system.

Our logo is generative, kinetic, and constantly evolving just like us. Thank you Talia Cotton.

Derek Wiggins

Hello world. My name is Derek Wiggins. I was born in ATL, but I call NY my home. At the core, I’m a skateboarder who loves arts and culture. I’ve always gravitated towards new and different, and my mind is endlessly curious and forever seeking change.

Pushing the needle on innovation is a defining characteristic of my life and career. I’ve developed Nike, Adidas, and Supreme collaborations and built courts in NYC public parks to democratize elite sports. I’ve led bleeding-edge platforms such as Zingy and Hipcricket to acquisitions and developed the first-to-market initiative for Universal Records, Anheuser-Busch, and Pernod Ricard. I’m a social scientist in my own right, constantly testing and learning.

My passion for driving change, love of the arts, and experience in the digital universe have led me to co-found GBA. Through our actions and ideas, we believe that we can change the future.

Karen Wong

Hey, I’m Karen Wong. Derek says our GBA combined superpowers are that he’s low and I’m high. I am good at cutting through the bullshit and finding beauty. I’m a shapeshifter — creative director, talent scout, and educator are all part of my arsenal. So many wickedly awesome artists are hiding in plain sight, and prioritizing them is my lodestar.

I spent 15 years at NYC’s New Museum in senior leadership positions and manifested activist entrepreneurship as the founder of IdeasCity, NEW INC, and ONX Studio. These three initiatives redefined the contemporary art museum by serving an inclusive community of creatives and are heralded as blueprints of what a 21st-century museum can be.

I’ve developed novel partnerships with agencies Anomaly and Droga5; brands Apple, Audi, Complex, Google, New York magazine, Nokia Bell Labs, Refinery29, and Vice; and foundations Knight, Neon, Onassis, and Simons.

I’m synthesizing my experience and love for visual arts to be part of a movement that creates more channels for artists across our nation. Let’s go!

Ms. Wong and Mr. Wiggins hope to widen access by hosting events in more inviting spaces and to expand artistic representation by elevating the work of queer artists and artists of colour from regional cities.

Wong and Wiggins are building as they go. For its official inaugural drop this fall, “Gen Z by Gen Z,” GBA put out an open call to artists across the States. A selection of young artists from a multitude of backgrounds, many of whom are still in college, were chosen by their Gen Z peers.

On December 12, GBA will showcase a new program dubbed ArtCities, which will initiate by spotlighting five BIPOC creators who all hail from Winston-Salem and Greensboro, North Carolina.

Particularly, GBA is focused on addressing the lack of inclusivity in the art world and the challenges artists face when trying to make liveable salaries off their work.

The tapestries, which range in price from $1,900 to $3,200, are on view at creative online marketplace Guilty By Association ... And more are on the way: a follow-up collection made in collaboration with other tribes, called “Swamp Party,” is on track for the spring.

Charles DuVernay, a member of the Monogram Hunters tribe who has been sewing these suits since he was a child, has riffed on the garments for a new series of beaded wall hangings made in collaboration with GBA (Guilty By Association).

Camella Ehlke has flipped the antiquated slipcover on its head, refreshing the concept with a jolt of new energy and high-grade style. It’s the kind of genre-blurring, decade-spanning collaboration that could only come from the world of streetwear.

Each of the 19 chairs and their outfits, designed by Camella Ehkle, are for sale through GBA (Guilty By Association) – a new Brooklyn-based inclusive platform to empower overlooked artists.

GBA offers a multipurpose space for the creative community to work and connect, and to present the occasional pop-up. As an artist who throughout her career has worked to foster connection and democratize art and fashion, Camella Ehlke was a natural partner for GBA’s Brooklyn launch.

“The medium of NFT’s has given me the courage and confidence to share my unique work with the world,” Fox, whose debut NFT collection with Guilty By Association (GBA) is titled SMOKE.

Just as GBA yields to the artists, the [GBA] brand identity yields to the computer.

...there’s no limit to how many people could sketch a new GBA logo in this way, and it will allow the organization to continue to evolve its inclusive brand identity.

About GBA

We are building an inclusive space for culture, commerce, and an ever-expanding community of artists, designers, and buyers.

GBA is here to make change. Meet the cofounders leading the charge.

Derek Wiggins

Karen Wong

Press