Wyatt Mills: Authenticity and Chaos in Cubism

Unlimited and Unhinged

American painter Wyatt Mills creates intriguingly abstract and eclectic pieces with a Picasso-esque flavor. Thick and confidently applied paint strokes combine with finely detailed segments, symbol, and color to create his transcendentally fragmented visuals.  Mills believes the tools to execute his inspired musings are present everywhere, one simply has to experiment and innovate; “Prisoners in Alcatraz used spoons to escape a concrete fortress; yes, I primarily use oil paint – but there are no boundaries as to how to use something, or what to use it on.”  Unconventional painting methods and a mindful, awakened attitude pave the way for Mills to rage into the strange world of cubism with a delectable elegance and rawness.

Wyatt is committed to breaking out of his comfort zone to reach new artistic heights.  Growing up surrounded by “cartoons, superhero costumes, cool bed sheet patterns (you name it)” taught Mills to see art in everything; he freely expressed his creative flair and eccentric kinship with crossing boundaries. The joy of playing with his surroundings soon developed into a love of the artistic, doodling and making was a no-brainer for Mills, and soon after, “drawing and painting became a perfect tool for me to translate and breed my ideas into.” He went on to Graduate from his BFA Honors in Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts, New York, and took part in a plethora of exhibitions around Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.

A method of attaining his brave, unapologetically free, neo-cubism style was born from “angrily throwing different mediums at a failed painting until something special happened.” Channeling his raw emotions into his failed pieces gave birth to genuine authenticity and unfiltered organic feeling, themes that are still clear in his current works. Giving time to his artistic process and inspiration is important, Mills does not try to understand the source of his inspiration, but accepts it as a part of his transient humanity; “It’s a mystical and intangible place that I can only reach by diving into a day’s work, and then simple and new inspirations produce themselves.” Wyatt believes that keeping an awake and aware set of eyes allows him to be inspired by his every action, where he can translate what he sees into his own work.

Ensuring he does not become comfortable with a style or set of tools keeps Mills’ creative fire well kindled, “just using tools that I am not familiar with can derive a lot of new spontaneous satisfaction. The other day I used a broken plastic fork as a brush and it did some interesting things”. Mills’ completely eccentric and open-minded outlook on creating allows him to walk the artistic path with bare feet, feeling his way as he develops and creates with no limitation.

“I want my work to be viewed differently by each audience member, I am not aiming for some overall empirical answer for everyone to reach, I’d like just for everyone to have a personal journey as they observe the work, and converse with each piece as an entity of its own. I hope to leave the finished piece as something that is capable of a unique conversation with others.”

All images copyright of Wyatt Mills

You can view more work by Wyatt on his Instagram and website.

Article written by Kate Smith