Vice Studios Names ThankYouX Its First Artist in Residence

Vice Studios has named Ryan Wilson, the artist who works as ThankYouX, as its first artist in residence. Studio president Amy Powell confirmed the appointment, as The Hollywood Reporter reported on November 2, 2026.

The role has three parts. Wilson will originate new intellectual property for the studio, meaning original stories, worlds and characters that the studio can later build into films or series. He will also consult on the visual world-building for Vice Studios titles, shaping how their settings look. And he will conceptualise hybrid narrative formats that sit between contemporary art, entertainment and technology.

Wilson is a native of Los Angeles who started his art career in 2009. His work has been shown at Art Basel, Sotheby's, Christie's, the Museum of the Future in Dubai and the Francisco Carolinum Linz Museum in Austria. He is represented by UTA, the talent agency that finds work for performers, writers and artists and negotiates their contracts.

Powell's own path to the studio runs through two other companies. Vice Media named her president of Vice Studios in May 2025, when Realscreen reported that she was coming over from Amazon and was set to take up the job on June 2. Before that, she was president of Paramount Television, a post she left in 2018.

Her link to Wilson goes back to that Paramount period. The Hollywood Reporter reports that Powell once commissioned him to paint a portrait of Steve Jobs for her office there. The new role grows out of that working relationship, the report says.

For fans of Vice Studios, the news is about who will shape the look and the ideas behind future projects. The studio's titles will still be made by the teams already working on them, with Wilson adding his voice on the visual side.