Today we’d like to introduce you to Dylan Wilde.
Hi Dylan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My pronouns are he/him and I’m a queer artist living in La Mesa. Born in Orange County, California in 1987, I was raised in San Diego from the age of three. While I’ve been a creative most of my life and have been fortunate to have family who believed in my skills, I didn’t pursue it more seriously until I was in my late 20s. With encouragement and tremendous support from my partner, Alexia, I went back to school to obtain a BFA in Studio Arts from UCSD, finishing in 2020. Since then, I’ve dived into my painting practice full time, continuously challenging and pushing myself.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Is life ever smooth? Hardly, but it’s what shaped me, crucial moments informing my artistic practice along the way. Other than holding myself back from achieving something greater, I have generally lived a stereotypical life of an artist: living paycheck to paycheck, navigating addiction, poor life decisions in my twenties, etc. Being queer, one who deviates from a defined path, there have no doubt been obstacles. However, reflexivity coupled with a critical lens of myself and the world around me has allowed me to grow with tenderness and compassion, despite the thorny terrain of contemporary life. Everyday is a chance to be better, everyone deserves that chance.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Known for dreamlike landscapes and domestic interiors, I explore intimacy and distance through experimentation, process and painting. I utilize a multidisciplinary approach to navigate queer experiences in Southern California’s desert and coastal landscapes, with a focus in oil painting.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
As an artist, one must embrace failure. Every moment in the studio is a risk of coming undone, to proudly display our endeavors despite how exposed we may become. With painting, there are ways to hide our mistakes, but ultimately there is a history left behind in the brush strokes. You can change the direction at any moment, but it is the mistakes that lay the foundation for our final form, at some point we must accept and celebrate where we are in the moment.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dylanwilde.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dylanwilde
Image Credits
All photos: Dylan Wilde
