Steven Duane Wilson

by Mark Stanley

Steven Duane Wilson began his artistic odyssey at the age of 12, working as a plasterer with his grandfather on construction sites, an unlikely place perhaps to discover one's artistic vocation. But it was there in Northern Illinois, working in the family business, that he nevertheless learned much about what he knows of stucco, his medium of choice.

It was the construction industry which also awoke in Steven his fascination with Victorian and Gothic architecture, though that was not an interest he shared with his co-workers: "You don't really talk about those kind of things on construction sites," remembers Steven.

As he worked, his curiosity burgeoned, and Steven found himself musing about the architects who had designed the old buildings. He'd try to get inside their heads to discover what had been their creative inspiration. It wasn't long before he realized that his true calling was not to follow in the family construction business, but to become an artist.

Today, Steven works full time as an artist and creates a prolific amount of work. He has ventured into eclectic mediums such as wire lath and wood burning, but most of his art continues to be done with stucco. Steven admits that some of his artistic "experiments" have gone awry, but refuses to get discouraged and continually attempts to expand his horizons and create art with new and ever-changing techniques.

Much of Steven's work hangs on the walls of his house, located in an idyllic country setting overlooking a pond, which he jokingly refers to as "Wilson's Lake", a reference to the surname he and his landlord share.

By his front door hangs a work entitled A Death Mass (at Lake Wilson), Steven's unique interpretation of the landscape outside his house, in which he pays homage to his late father, Stuart Duane Wilson, a man who Steven clearly admires intensely. It was his father's failing health, which prompted Steven's move to Missouri from New Hampshire. A large tree on the left of the painting represents Mozart, who Steven refers to as "the composer of God." Indeed, Mozart's Requiem can almost always be found playing in the background when Steven is working on his art.

In the painting, Death is represented as a black figure watching over the mass. Employing a concept he learned while studying for his experimental psychology degree at Tennessee Tech University, Steven painted the sky a bright pink to contrast with the black in order to create a haunting uneasiness in the viewer. "People have a natural aversion to the combination of pink and black," he explains.

On another wall hangs a large painting entitled If only to hear the clouds cry, then came the flying umbrellas, also dedicated to Steven's father and depicting different anecdotes from his father's life. One of the main concepts encapsulated in the painting is his father's experience as a rakkasan - a paratrooper with the 187th regimental combat team, during the Korean War. A parachute in the center of the work represents, in part, the 'jumper's paradox', the psychologically wrenching tribulation paratroopers experience during missions.

"Jumpers never want to be where they are. When they are in the plane, they want to be on the ground; when they are in descent they want to be back in the plane; and when they are on the ground they want to be back at the [military] base," explains Steven.

Both works are typical of Steven's art, dense with meaning and imagery. Behind the geometric shapes and unique colors that comprise his paintings lies layer upon layer of intricate narrative. A driving force behind Steven's art appears to be his quest to capture layers of meaning on a single canvas, to give voice to a myriad of emotions and stories whose true essence cannot be communicated by words alone. If pressed, Steven can describe his art in great detail, but he prefers to let his paintings do the talking: "The great thing about art is that, in the end, it doesn't need to be translated."

steven duane wilson | CAL Online Artist Village | Columbia Art League
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