ARTIST’S STATEMENT

“I like pink next to orange. I always like to have a window open.”

PROFILE

Wayne Wilcoxen was born in Queens, New York and moved to San Diego at a very young age. Growing up in a border town, with its proximity to the culture of Mexico, and his interest in keeping and breeding exotic birds, Wayne naturally developed a strong sense of bold color that can be seen in many of his works.

Wayne’s earlier works mostly depicted exotic birds in natural habitats and still life settings. He developed an impressionistic style with oil pastel that was unique to the wildlife art genre. He attained some success with these earlier works, but soon discovered that his talents were better revealed through abstract imagery.

Wayne cites Paul Klee, with his playful use of geometric forms and their deceptive simplicity, and the stream of consciousness textural effects of the Abstract Expressionists as strong influences. Wayne believes that by following the spontaneous musings of his subconscious mind, the resulting abstractions offer the viewer the most direct connection with the artist; a road to his purest thought.

What Wayne also seeks to express is not only the immediacy of his thought; the drawing that has seemingly conducted itself, but the unabashed delight in the process. Much of his work projects a self-effacing wit, a willingness to play and experiment, while maintaining technical skill. He continues to produce artwork that reflects this evolution, the joyful collusion of lines and marks into the rhythmic harmony of color and space.