T. Preston Wilder

Born in North America.

Lives & works in the United States

 

     I have always been an Artist.  I have always seen, felt, and created as an Artist.  

 

     I left home at an early age, living and working across the country and around the world.  No matter what my vocation, a United States Navy Counter-Terrorist/Narcotics Intelligence agent in Europe and CentralAmerica, an Open Ocean Kayak Guide on the Atlantic Coast or even a Dolphin, Sea Lion and Penguin Trainer at Marineland of Florida, , I have and will always remain, first and foremost... an Artist.

 

     Being an Artist was not something encouraged in my childhood as it was considered, "A waste of time."  As a result of this my early exposure to Art was limited to the Parker Bros. board-game, "Masterpiece".  I vividly recall laying on my sister's bedroom floor, opening the game-box and seeing those twenty-four 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" cards.  Glossy, rich reproductions of Master-works on display at the National Gallery in London, England, It was here I saw Van Gogh, Cezanne, Dali and others for the first time. The game itself was beyond my young understanding so I just stole the cards keeping them for myself.  Those cards became my early influences.  

     

     I have a wonderful but difficult brain.  It connects, references, sub-references, visualizes,  and imagines at a furious rate regardless of where I am or what I am physically doing.  I have very little control over my brain making it difficult for others to be around me for extended periods of time.  I have been told by many that if I were measured, I would be on "the scale" and possibly Bi-polar.  I don't know.  What I do know is that the stored images of nearly every moment of my life rattle around maddeningly and incessantly in my brain and the only time other than sleep that I am truly quiet and at peace is when painting.  

 

     I am a self-taught or “dirt road” Artist.  I have spent nearly forty years attempting to understand color, light, balance and the possibility of that one exceptional painting.  I seek the same destination as a Master of Fine Arts and although my dirt road is longer, the view has added both a depth and honesty to my work that I have come to appreciate.

    

 

 

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