ABOUT THE WORK

Through the decades, as he moved deeper and deeper into his style of abstraction, Edwin Wilwayco found that his true subject matter is the primal pleasures of experiencing the attributes of paint. His loose, gestural brushstrokes underscore the kinetic act of painting while interpreting the elements of nature. By invoking the elemental forces of nature within his gestural brushstrokes, Edwin Wilwayco reenergizes abstraction. Wilwayco incorporates swirling arabesques of brushstrokes that resemble the onrushing of conflicting waves of water. Exploring this theme lets each painting have its own energy. His works are bold, spontaneous statements that come short of totally eliminating the subject matter in favor of purely plastic means to create large, loose strokes whose "meanings" are arrived at by experiential associations with nature. Edwin Wilwayco didn't find his way into his language of abstraction by steeping himself in theory and assembling a rigorous conceptual framework. The whole cerebral process will only begin to feel like an unnecessary burden, especially because the pleasure, even fun, is in the abstraction. When he begins working on his paintings, he brushes, scrapes down, covers over, and creates explosions of richly hued waves, until somehow he knows that he is finished. Wilwayco will always remain fascinated by paint's ability to transform into something else: an image of spontaneous action. Wilwayco's large, lush canvases are seductive, a description that Wilwayco will not dispute. Another description would be visceral but never repulsive.