Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Wicks.
Hi Michael, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I am a trained nature photographer. I started shooting when I was 13 with a Sears KSX 35mm camera I got for my Bar Mitzvah. I asked for that over a bike. I started showing my photography professionally in 2007, winning awards along the way for some of my images. In 2016, I approached a friend of mine who is an accomplished fine art painter and said, “Hey, I wanted to see if I can paint. Can you help me?”
We started with some sketching and then went right into acrylic painting, painting from my photographic images. I had some success in the next few year painting and finding people that wanted them, but it’s a hard road since you have to find that right person that that painting talks to. In 2019, I decided to embark on the abstract world. Using a pour method but also involving my composition expertise and previous brush and pallet knife work, I started creating abstract paintings. I immediately found an audience, and in that 1st year, I sold 15 paintings to people who saw them on FB and IG.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
If by smooth, we mean like an unshaven lumberjack, well, then yes! “No smooth” is not a word I would use and still wouldn’t. When I was showing my fine art photography, I would hear things like “Is this art or photography?” and “Oh, you must have an incredible camera!” and so on. Also, with the ability to search for images that were similar to mine, people good just download a copy of someone else’s work, typically right in front of me. When I stepped into the painting world, it really wasn’t a lot different. I would hear, and still hear, “Oh yeah, I’ve done that,” or “I have a [insert friend, sister, brother, great aunt, accountant] that does this. The struggle has to been to identify how my work isn’t the same and, in fact, that I go through a lot of work attempting to get on canvas the image I have in my head without using a brush or pallet knife as the main tool.
I’ve been pretty successful in getting this notion across, and lately, I’ve heard more of things like, “Wow, yeah, I saw some others doing this, but they don’t come close to what you’re doing.” Which is nice to hear.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My process starts with finding used canvas at a Goodwill or even on the side of the road. I’m attempting to create from what others deemed unworthy and also recycle as much as I can. So, when you look at the back of my pieces, you can still see images of the prior scene.
I’m becoming known for my aggressive use of cooler colors, leaving little negative space. What I try to do is create images that, although are abstract in nature, viewers and buyers will know exactly what I am going for. Usually, that’s a water or ocean scene or a sunset.
I’ve been doing a series of waves where I’m attempting to create that surf curl, but only if you look at it for a while. And with my sunsets, I’m doing them in layers and multiple settings so that you can clearly see the sunset, ocean, beach, and sometimes seagulls.
And finally, I use resin as the final process in all but a select few pieces as I’m trying to show people what the paint did look like before it dried.
What were you like growing up?
Unfortunately, I was bullied quite a bit. Being a vertically challenged child who, during the 70s, was forced to play the least cool instrument there was didn’t help that either. I ended up using humor to escape most altercations and situations I found myself in and picked up what at the time was the coolest instrument, a guitar, and played old-school R&B with friends who still be my lifelong friends today.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.MichaelWicksArt.com
- Instagram: michael_wicks_art
