Michael Wilkinson
“I believe art should uplift the human spirit, show us what is possible. That is why I seek the ideal in my art; the ideal illuminates our potentialities and acts as an affirmation of the best within us.”
Michael Wilkinson is recognised as the world’s pre-eminent acrylic sculptor alive today and has become one of the most widely collected sculptors of our time. His artwork appears in thousands of private and public art collections and is exhibited in fine art galleries worldwide.
Wilkinson, an architect by training, completed his art studies at the New York Academy of Art and has been perfecting acrylic sculpture for more than twenty five years.
In his own words: “My acrylic sculptures are a blend of figurative and abstract forms, a fusion that I enjoy creating and to which acrylic is beautifully suited. Acrylic is a truly modern material and working with it is like working with no other medium. I start out with clay, a lump of earth, but end up having created an ethereal world infused by light. A wonderful aspect of acrylic sculpture is that it is clear and has an interior: a “fourth dimension” that allows the viewer to look into the artwork. This characteristic offers the greatest challenge in working with the material because the original sculpture model is opaque clay or plaster. While creating the model, I must envision through the plaster what is going on inside the work -- the reflections and refractions as they will appear in the final clear artwork. This is the most difficult aspect of my acrylic art, but when I get it right it is the most satisfying.”
Wilkinson lives and works in New York City, attending several one-man exhibitions of his work each year.
