Wilkinson Michael
Michael Wilkinson was born in Oakland, California, 1949.He graduated from high school at the height of the Vietnam War and enlisted in the Air Force, where he served as an illustrator in Japan,
He graduated from California Polytechnic State University with a degree in architectural engineering and worked for the architect Olof Dahlstrand in Carmel, California. In 1979 he left architecture to pursue his passion for sculpture.
where he studied Japanese art and architecture. The harmony and simple elegance of the Japanese esthetic made an impression on the young artist and he worked to integrate its principles into his thinking. The influence of classical western art was strengthened when, in 1978, he traveled to Europe. There he studied the great works of the ancient Greeks and Michelangelo. He moved to New York City where he studied at the Art Students' League and the New York Academy of Art. Years earlier he had read The Romantic Manifesto by Ayn Rand and had become interested in her ideas about a category of art called Romantic Realism. Now he began integrating a radical, consciously held esthetic theory with his art.
In the early 1980's, Wilkinson started to exhibit his work in galleries in New York and Carmel. From the beginning Wilkinson's aim was to work exclusively in bronze, but in 1984 he became interested in clear acrylic, finding in its optical properties new possibilities for conveying the ideas central to his art. He now creates both bronze and acrylic sculpture.
Michael Wilkinson has become one of the most collected sculptors of our time. His sculpture appears in many private and public art collections and is exhibited in fine art galleries worldwide. He lives and works in New York City and attends several one-man exhibitions of his work per year
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