Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Wessel.
Hi Michael, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
It started a long time ago with a camera and a desire to show the world what I saw. A life abroad, in Japan, traveling Southeast Asia, blogging, seeing the world, tasting, trying, experimenting. Running around just, living. Years went by on this adventure as I stocked up experience and memories.
I found myself, after my return to the US, using those skills as a partner in a print magazine, shooting product, food, people, events, and writing articles, reviews, posts, and everything in between. Twenty-six thousand editions every other month out to the city of Milwaukee. During this time my work ended up in cookbooks, other magazines, and on websites around the country.
That journey evolved into a deep interest in fashion and beauty photography, models, clothes, makeup, the whole big set thing. I worked my way from small boutique agencies in Minneapolis up into the biggest ones in Los Angeles, shooting their new and established people. Published in countless online magazines, it still wasn’t what I was seeking. Even the music videos, as fun as they were, just wasn’t enough.
So on one dark night in a room with no windows in a small apartment I decided to try a new avenue, drawing, which quickly evolved into much, much more. An on and off again hobby, suddenly the desire to create with my own hands the things that were in my mind became overwhelming and, since then, I’ve been doing just that. Painting, design, writing, photography, so much in so little time.
And, as the world moves, I move with it, seeing with new eyes and expressing in new ways. As of 2021 I found myself diving deep, deep, deep, into a whole new place called NFTs. No hesitation with such a wide avenue ahead of me, time shoots by at light speed. Art, events, art, events. Building up, building out, helping always. Running a metaverse gallery showcasing talent from around the world. Then, 2022, doors open even with crypto crashing, my dig into the possibilities of what I could do within digital in full motion. A crazy creative journey with so many lessons leading to today.
Now, in 2025, focused on physical and digital, the possibilities of crossover and amplification for both technique and ways to spread the messages I wish to transmit, my path is evolving in new and unforeseen ways as I take from all my lessons over the years and apply them to my current goals.
Awash in the chaos of this world, I seek peace and understanding. From there, growth and hopefully happiness.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, my path has not been a smooth one, nor did I expect it to be. I wish things were easier, had been easier, will be easier, but the truth is this path I’ve chosen as an artist, to pursue individuality in expression and support myself from it is against the grain of society, even though we laud it, praise it, consume the products of it with gluttonous desire…
Some big struggles for me as an artist are with self-confidence, and understanding, To survive, sell, the work must contain something, appeal to someone enough that they will share their resources of time and hopefully money with me…yet still remain true to me and the message I wish to deliver. That search is technical, spiritual, mental, physical, and everything in-between. The money, the market, less of a challenge in some ways as the interpersonal game is pretty obvious if you’re willing to be cold and hard about the truths of success with an art career.
One struggle I wish to be clear about is the one with social media. Both a blessing and a curse the false narratives that it allows to be created through subscriptions, bots, AI agents, the hoopla yet echo ring of big engagement yet no real numbers on the back-end…the casino they now resemble has been one of the hardest mental health issues I’ve had to recover from. Realizing what it is/was, breaking the addiction, re-examining my relationship with the different services, and returning under my own power with my own objectives and refusing to get caught up in the seductive empty noise. There are some amazing possibilities, but…things are so off kilter with a focus on extraction vs mutual growth…so many go their with big hopes seeing the big players and wonder why can’t they ever get that big.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Currently I’m focusing most of my energy on a series I call the Relax Fish project. A series of art living in both the physical and digital world, it is currently made up of hand-painted fish and .gif animations. As a way to deal with the quickly increasing chaos in this world, to create a rock for me to stand on, to help break out of the dark shell I had built up around myself to survive in my head, an idea that had been growing swam its way out. I also felt, that being an artist with the super-power of being able to create and influence, I didn’t want to focus on much of what my friends have been and what I had done in the past…pain, frustration, anger..I wanted to do for others what I was trying to do for myself, get out of panic-mode and regain my senses. Everything is bombarding us all at once and it’s like omfg 24/7/365 and it’s like, please, just a few moments… The fish had been a regular player in other aspects of my art for a while, so this transition and growth felt, right.
I’m proud to say, at the time of writing this, I am close to making my first goal of getting 100 painted fish ‘adopted.’ So far 69 have found homes, mostly due to me sitting out in Little Tokyo with a small table. On the digital side my animated fish are reaching a million+ impressions as measured by Tenor and Giphy and increasing quickly as I add more and more to the vibe.
As a way to blow of the dark chaotic internal energy, because as everyone knows we all have two sides, I open myself up to abstract art. In the past I worked canvases with acrylic color in all sizes, mostly I focus on line work on paper, to conserve space in my already crowded studio. There are plans for more defined work, less abstract, but to get there I am building up certain technical skills and that takes a lot of time.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Keep learning. I almost said, don’t give up, but, if you’ve got a goal, and it really means something to you, and if you keep learning, eventually you’ll get to where you’re supposed to be, not always where you expected, wanted, or planned to be, but where you should.
And get used to being if you want to accomplish your dream. There will a;ways be friends along the way but no one, no one, will have the passion and interest you have in what you do, like you do. Don’t let social media, other people, anyone or anything break down that vision you have. Adapt and evolve, but know the hardest parts will likely be in your own head.
One last one…
If it’s easy, if it’s fast…it won’t last. Build foundations slowly, patiently, the success comes from the base.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Iamwessel.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/relaxfishproject
- Twitter: https://x.com/iamwesselart
Image Credits
All my art, all my shots.
