Joel Wilkinson, Greenville SC. Statement on illustration

Statement | on Drawing & illustration

Joel Wilkinson, Greenville SC

My work is rooted in the habit of traditional drawing. I draw in preparation of paintings and the paintings include elements of drawing. Additionally, I make drawings as final works.

I explore beyond traditional painting and drawing and venture into graphic works and commissions, going after these things for the information and discovery they offer. All artists explore with sketch books or journals, or otherwise accumulate material that informs their work and many keep this material rather privately. Mine evolved into illustration but I didn't allow myself to abandon painting.

One of the curators of the Whitney Biennial was quoted, "Popular culture has been internalized as a referential pool of inspiration by artists in a way that's no longer about a Pop art heirarchy ...it's now understood that all things are out there to be used and incorporated." ---(from January 2006 ARTnews magazine feature "The Big Draw," written by Hilarie M. Sheets).

Commissions for the business world and publishing are done out of my interest in graphics, design and over all problem solving. They are challenges that demand discipline which carries over into my painting. Graphic art and illustration is part of that referential pool of inspiration, everything from Thomas Nast to Toulouse Lautrec, N.C. Wyeth to Raymond Pettibon and various contemporary artists and illustrators.

When I was a kid I was seriously fascinated by Picasso's series of drawings of bulls. I began breaking down imagery into shapes and using lines; I was interested in deconstructing and rearranging, simplifying. It's all for the purpose of observing and learning.

It's servant to the body of work that is my painting. Has been all along.


		Back to directory Statement \| on Drawing & illustration Joel Wilkinson, Greenville SC My work is rooted in the habit of traditional drawing. I draw in preparation of paintings and the paintings include elements of drawing. Additionally, I make drawings as final works. I explore beyond traditional painting and drawing and venture into graphic works and commissions, going after these things for the information and discovery they offer. All artists explore with sketch books or journals, or otherwise accumulate material that informs their work and many keep this material rather privately. Mine evolved into illustration but I didn't allow myself to abandon painting. One of the curators of the Whitney Biennial was quoted, "Popular culture has been internalized as a referential pool of inspiration by artists in a way that's no longer about a Pop art heirarchy ...it's now understood that all things are out there to be used and incorporated." ---(from January 2006 ARTnews magazine feature "The Big Draw," written by Hilarie M. Sheets). Commissions for the business world and publishing are done out of my interest in graphics, design and over all problem solving. They are challenges that demand discipline which carries over into my painting. Graphic art and illustration is part of that referential pool of inspiration, everything from Thomas Nast to Toulouse Lautrec, N.C. Wyeth to Raymond Pettibon and various contemporary artists and illustrators. When I was a kid I was seriously fascinated by Picasso's series of drawings of bulls. I began breaking down imagery into shapes and using lines; I was interested in deconstructing and rearranging, simplifying. It's all for the purpose of observing and learning. It's servant to the body of work that is my painting. Has been all along.