My Paintings depict modern socioeconomic struggles and illustrate how our present culture reflects history. Although I work from imagination, my subject matter is real. Most of what I paint I have observed, neighborhoods and infrastructure crumbling, people succumbing to drug abuse and the negative effects of an unhealthy environment and poor diet. I am drawn to desperation, the fact that those most vulnerable rarely escape poverty and degradation.
Since I spent much of my childhood exploring woods and swamps, nature is ever-present in my art. I attempt to convey atmospheric conditions as well as the fact that nature reclaims even the most urban landscape.
I paint in oil on canvas using rough sketches for composition and photographs for detail. While my work has elements of Surrealism and Regionalism, it is actually more akin to Primitivism. Outsider artwork lacks inhibitions and constraints exhibited in many works by trained artists. This free-flowing approach to painting continues to influence my style and technique to this day.
Wendy Cross