Michael Wilkinson

Michael Wilkinson has become one of the preeminent sculptors of our time, creating beautiful and powerful works unique in the history of art.
“Art has always moved my soul. Whether it is the heroic grandeur of Michelangelo's David, the love of a man for a woman as in Rodin's The Eternal Idol, or the radiant world depicted in the sparkling drawings of Frank Lloyd Wright; art has always affirmed and fueled my deepest beliefs about the beauty of life."
For Michael Wilkinson, realism is the most accessible kind of art, especially when it portrays the human form. Most artists would agree that the human form is the most difficult to recreate. But, in Michael Wilkinson's experience, the realistic portrayal of the human form is the most deeply satisfying, for it is unmatched in expression of emotion and psychological insight.
"In an age where the purpose of much art is to shock and repulse, where our psychic and esthetic sensibilities are under assault, Romanticism, the art of beauty, purpose and meaning is restorative and life affirming. The beauty of beauty is that it is an antidote to ugliness. Beauty cleanses and inoculates against the unpleasantness of the world."
When working, Michael Wilkinson is always mindful of this maxim. The greater a work of art, the more universal its meaning. Michael Wilkinson strives to create imagery based on broad themes that are universally understood, yet may inspire a deeply personal response in each individual.
Michael Wilkinson's acrylic sculptures are a blend of figurative and abstract forms, a fusion that Michael Wilkinson enjoys 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.
Michael Wilkinson starts out with clay, a lump of earth, but ends 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, Michael Wilkinson 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 Michael Wilkinson's acrylic art, but when he gets it right it is the most satisfying.
Michael Wilkinson is an architect by training. Michael Wilkinson has always been fascinated by the surroundings people live in their worlds. The interior of an acrylic is a light-filled world that makes it possible for Michael Wilkinson to tell stories in space and time, in which his figures come alive. The men and women Michael Wilkinson creates are conscious in their lives and have the power to make their dreams a reality. Michael Wilkinson hopes that collectors see and appreciate this. Michael Wilkinson believes art should uplift the human spirit, show us what is possible. That is why Michael Wilkinson seeks the ideal in his art the ideal illuminates our potentialities and acts as an affirmation of the best within us.