The Backwoods 

Biography

 

    Cory Wilcox was born April 1, 1993 and is a student that is currently attending Columbus College of Art & Design. He is majoring in Advertisement & Graphic Design and is currently in his sophomore year. He Graduated from Hilliard Darby High School in 2011 where he found out that art was his passion.  He lived with his grandmother and younger sister who helped inspire him and support him.

     As a young boy his family would draw him pictures so he has always been around art. His family and him would play games to keep him preoccupied and one game entailed being blindfolded and then someone would call out an object or theme. The person would then have to draw whatever was called out. This is how he honed into his artistic abilities. He was around the age of four at this time and ever since then he has owned a sketchbook. He wasn’t a typical boy when growing up if he watched television is only consisted of John Wayne movies. If he wasn’t doing that then he was outside running around, climbing trees, and digging. Everyday though he would always find something to sketch whether it was a pet or a made up landscape. This is where his specialty of drawing landscapes comes from. 

    He has always been sort of a loner and wanting to be outside and in the backwoods. It’s because of this he is a quiet, self disciplined, and determined but respectful person who has over came a lot. He dreams of one day being able to work for a advertisement agency or build himself his own graphic design company. Along with being able to live in the country on a decent size piece of land where he can grow a family and continue his career capturing the beauty of nature and implementing it into his artwork.

 

 

Artist Statement

 

    Over the years my work has had no certain agenda but has always related back to nature. I like to believe that I am in tune with nature due to this. I have always enjoyed going into the woods for hours and only hearing the noises of birds and feeling the wind blow on my face. It’s the ability to finally be alone and away from civilization that gives a sense of purity and freedom that I am constantly seeking for. I make my work tie into this feeling by having my work take on a natural aspect that connects to wilderness.

    Whether my work is illustrations, Ad campaigns, or even just a simple drawing they all have some sort of way connecting back to nature. For example I did a how to guide for beginning fly fisherman on tying the clinch knot. Another piece of work I did was an Ad campaign for Ovarian Cancer. It started out as a campaign to help promote awareness for the disease but then developed into a more meaningful project due to being able to connect it to a family friend. Where their daughter passed away at age seven because of this terrible disease. I was able to connect it back to nature because I found out her favorite animal was an owl so it also became sort of like in memory for her.

    While I work in a variety of materials whether it’s digital, woodwork, or even pencil. Art is my purpose and I love making it. I tend to have an unconventional thought process where I have an idea and I stop myself to examine every aspect of that idea to see if it’s the best solution graphically. From this process I find myself always going back and forth with ideas, but it isn’t until I get this certain deep down feeling inside to then move forward with an idea. Along with spending time out in the woods for hours with a sketchpad making marks depending on what the project is.  I like to go with the ideology that we are all connected in some way to nature and that without nature living would be difficult. That art and nature are everything; don’t let life pass by without purpose, mine combining art and nature.