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Wesley Wheeler describes himself as a "later blooming artist." He
spent his career as a Fortune 300 executive, but painted "in the
closet" for much of his career in pursuit of a passion inherited
from his mother, a portrait artist, and his uncle, a former
curator for the Rockefeller Foundation and the Henry Ford
Museum. Following retirement, Wheeler made his exhibition debut
in 2005 with the Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, NY. He has
since exhibited in Massachusetts, New York City, and Washington,
DC.
Wheeler's work is influenced by Mark Rothko's atmospheric
canvases and by the color palettes of Hopper, van Gogh and
others. Nonetheless, Wheeler paints in his own individual style,
aiming to create work that is "as little derivative in its
nature as possible."
Wheeler's work falls into two principal categories: color field
abstraction, inspired by cityscapes, landscapes, or seascapes,
and what the artist calls "narrative abstraction," in which he
uses graphite, charcoal, and pastel pencil to draw recognizable
forms within the layers of a more traditionally abstract
environment. His works are intended to suggest a story, a
memory, or a feeling supplied by the viewer.
With an exquisite instinct for balancing composition, color and
energy, Wheeler creates templates on which each of us may
overlay our own sense of mood and meaning. In this way, he
creates works of enduring appeal, as the "message" (to the
extent one can fairly apply that term) changes with the
perceptions, personal experience and current mood of the viewer.
The paintings change for us as we change, and so they never
become stale.
A long-time native of northern New Jersey, Wheeler currently
resides in Ballston Spa, NY.
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| Stems and Blooms (2007) |
36 x 24
oil on canvas |
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| Atmospheric
Conditions (2005) |
SOLD |
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