Resumé |

PROFILE

I am an American artist most known for the invention of interactive 3D pavement art illusions. My work also includes large-scale oil paintings, ceramic murals, sculptures, decorations, 3D installations, and architectural designs for public and private clients in more than 30 countries. I am trained in drawing, painting, sculpture, and architectural design within the Western European Classical tradition, and have made an extensive study of sacred geometry. In addition to creating educational materials I also give lectures and demonstrations with my most recent talk being Recreating Creativity: A New Approach to Imagination, Creativity & Innovation.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE & PUBLIC LECTURES
(a-z, partial list)

The Kennedy Center
Awarded The Kennedy Center Medallion in recognition for outstanding contribution to arts education.

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Art Center College of DesignLectured on what it means to have mastery in the arts for the Toyota lecture series.Carnegie Art Museum Lectured on my personal experience of learning the lost language of classicism in Italy. Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) Taught an intensive weeklong drawing workshop for exceptional students selected from U.S. Department of Defense schools around the globe. Received the Golden Palette Award for remarkable service, which spanned a decade. Music Center of Los Angeles Developed a 2-day school residency art program working in conjunction with the Music Center’s Education Department. The program was available to schools throughout the United States. Taught drawing with pastels to more than 100,000 students from elementary school through university level over the course of a decade. National Museum of Singapore Lectured on perspective and illusion. Rhode Island School of Design Lectured on my career and global experiences. Ringling College of Art and Design Gave a talk on classicism and architectural design. San Juan Island Museum of Art The Lost Language of Classical Design was given over two afternoons to a sold out audience. Live feed was set-up so I could draw alongside projected drawings by Caravaggio and other Renaissance artists and explain as I drew how they created the works. Santa Barbara Museum of Art Lectured on the history of pavement art. Tennessee Arts Commission The talk, Recreating Creativity, was given for Create 2012: Creativity in Education conference. The National Gallery of Art Conducted a series of public lectures and was the keynote speaker for a 3- day symposium on Old Master drawings from Woodner and Chatsworth collections. Live feed was set-up allowing me to draw alongside projected images from the collections on exhibit and explain as I drew how the artists created the works. Repeatedly invited to lecture on art and innovative uses of perspective for the Gallery’s curators, lecturers, and docents. The Smithsonian Institution Lead a series of public lectures and courses titled Master Drawing; Perspective and Illusion, and The Complete Pastel. Lectured for the Smithsonian’s Art and Culture of Italy Program and lead groups through Italy. Walt Disney Animation Studios Taught numerous professional development seminars for over ten years to Disney’s top feature animation artists in figure drawing, perspective, oil painting, and the use of pastels. Walt Disney Imagineering Conducted professional development seminars for Disney’s top engineers for more than a decade on unusual uses of perspective. Conducted seminars and consulted with engineers to better employ illusions and perspective effects when constructing rides and shows. Warner Bros. Studios Assisted in the start-up of the new Feature Animation division by conducting artist’s training workshops, developing a color palette, and consulting on visual development and story proposals.

COMMISSIONED ART
(a-z, partial list)

Absolut Vodka: Commissioned to create an image for Absolut Vodka’s famous artist ad series.
Center West: Designed and executed an 18’ x 18’ landscape oil mural in the heart of Westwood, California for a high rise building on Wilshire Boulevard known as Center West. The mural has been seen in the television film Double Edge and the feature length film Sneakers.
Champion (sportswear): Designed and executed 3D artwork for an Italian print ad campaign featuring live sports figures.
Disneyland Paris: Designed a Main Street Parade based on Greek mythology.
Formula 1 & Grand Prix: Designed an interactive artwork for both the Bahrain Grand Prix and Honda F1 racing. The Honda image featured the top driver Jenson Button.
Good Morning America: Created artwork for the 100th Anniversary of Times Square and was invited to appear again on this leading morning news program.
Greenpeace: Designed and executed a 4,100 square foot mural used by the European Citizens’ Initiative to invoke, for the first time ever in history, their rights under the EU Lisbon Treaty. One million signatures were collected to petition for the end of GMO crops within the European Union.
Hong Kong Disneyland: Created three sculptures, a kirin, a phoenix, and a carp, that united to form the image of a sea dragon when seen from a particular viewpoint.Designed a permanent anamorphic illusion in mosaic.
Kaohsiung, Taiwan: More than 250,000 people lined up to see a single work in during a 5-day period. The sponsor’s Internet site received more than three million hits.
Knorr Soup: Created an illusionistic artwork for Canadian in-store ad campaign. The image was installed in more than 2,000 stores nationwide.
National Geographic Visitor’s Center at the Grand Canyon: Designed and executed an interactive artwork to be displayed at the visitor center to promote the beauty of the canyon and encourage the public to explore it.
Pope John Paul II: Commissioned to design and oversee the creation of a work of art for the official schedule of events which celebrated Pope John Paul II’s arrival to Mantua in Northern Italy. The Pope signed the mural based on the Last Judgment.
Saint George Church: The 17th century church, located at Lago di Como, Italy had never had its ceiling painted. By creating more than 20 original oil murals and completing the ceiling with decorative paintings in between them, for a total of 6,000 square feet, the church was finally completed.
Tokyo Disney Resort: Designed and executed a floor to ceiling illusion room that allows the pulic to interact with the painted image, The Last Days of Pompeii, while others view them through a specially ground lens produced by the makers of the Hubble Space Telescope for NASA.
Villa Zeffiro: Designed and executed more than 3,000 square feet of oil paintings, decorative plaster, and architectural details throughout the residence Villa Zeffiro in Santa Barbara, which is modeled after Palladio’s Villa Barbaro. The residence was featured in Architectural Digest.
Washington State Lottery: Three images were made to advertise a travel contest: Wall of China, Great Barrier Reef, and Egyptian Tomb. The art was produced as large stickers and installed in 850 stores statewide.

DOCUMENTARIES

Japan’s Bacademy: Fuji Television celebrated the 7th anniversary of its immensely popular show “Bacademy” with a 2-hour special that was seen by more than 12 million viewers. The special edition included a feature of my artwork at Jack Gallery in Las Vegas.
Menschen und Strassen: Featured artist in the 45-minute Swiss-German Television (SWS) documentary filmed in Italy.
National Geographic: Was the featured artist in National Geographic’s documentary, Masterpieces In Chalk. The film won the Blue Ribbon award at the American Film and Video Festival; Chris Statuette Award at the Columbus International Film; Golden Award at INTERCOM Film Festival; and the Silver Award at the CINDY competition.

ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONED PROJECTS
(a-z, partial)

Designed interactive works of art, illusions, graphic designs and featured artwork for and/or in collaboration with the following organizations:

Acqua Panna

Architectural Digest

Art Center College of Design

Bahrain Grand Prix

Bank of America

Beazley

Belmont Forum

Big Lottery Fund

BMW

Breeders’ Cup

Browning Ferris Industries

British Airways

British Columbia Board of

Tourism

Buick

Cadillac

Canada Board of Tourism

Celebrity Cruises

Chancellor University

Comic-Con

Comparethemarket.com

Cox Communications

Dunkin Donuts

E 3

EuroStar

Exxon

Festival Cervantino

Fuji Television

General Mills

General Motors

Gillette

Save Venice, Inc.

Schick

Shanghai Xin Tian Di

Sky Television

Sky H.D.

Sony Pictures

Sonly PlayStation

The Kennedy Center

The National Gallery of Art

The Smithsonian Institution

The Walt Disney Studios

Timberland

Toyota

United States University

Universal Pictures

Universal Studios

Universal Studios Japan

Vestel

Visa

Walt Disney Imagineering

Walt Disney Pictures

Warner Brothers

Xanadu Commercial Center

Xbox

2K Games

Hampton Inn

Hewlett-Packard

Honda Formula 1

Houston Museum of Art

Huis Ten Bosch

IMAGINiT Technologies

IMAX

Jacob’s Creek

Kraft

Lexus

Lincoln Motors

Madison Square Garden

McDonald’s

Microsoft

Music Center of Los Angeles

National Geographic

Nat’l Museum of Singapore

Nescafé

New York Jets

Nike

Orange Telecommunications

Panasonic

Paramount Pictures

Pepperdine University

Pinger

PlayStation

Pope John Paul II

Procter & Gamble

The Rockettes

Rhode Island School of Design

Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

BOOKS (partial list)

Kurt Wenner, Asphalt Renaissance, The Pavement Art and 3-D Illusions of Kurt Wenner. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2011.

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Céline Delavaux, The Museum of Illusions. Olo Editions, 2013.

Brad Honeycutt, Sidewalk Chalk Art. Arturus Publishing Limited, 2012.

Julie Kirk, Sidewalk Canvas. Fox Chapel Publishing, 2011.

Birgit Krols, 3D Street Art. Tectum Publishing, 2011.

Jeremy M. Wolfe, Sensation & Perception, Third Edition. Sinauer Associates Inc., 2011.

Jeffrey S. Nevid, Essentials of Psychology: Concepts and Applications. Wadsworth Publishing, Third Edition, 2011.

Kiriakos Iosifidis, Mural Art, Murals on Huge Public Surfaces Around the World, Vol. 3. Greece: Publikat, 2010.

Jane Bingham, Illusion Art. Heinemann-Raintree, 2007.

Douglas A. Bernstein, Psychology. Wadsworth Publishing, 2007.

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Planet Eccentric!, Ripley Entertainment, 2005.

Donald Preziosi, Rethinking Art History: Meditations on a Coy Science. Yale University Press, 1991.

BOOKS IN PROGRESS

Kurt Wenner, The Divine Perspective.
Based on artist’s geometry that covers its sacred origins through contemporary times.

Kurt Wenner, The Mastery of Form.
An illustrated book that demonstrates the evolution of drawing in Western art.

GALLERY & MUSEUM WORK

Dolores Hidalgo Museum: Created the image Milagro for the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, Mexico. Other invited performing artists were Philip Glass and Momix theatre.
Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, California: A combined inaugural exhibit of my artwork and Wayne Thiebaud’s was held to celebrate the opening of the museum.
Jack Gallery: Gallery work was represented Jack Gallery along the Grand Canal at the Venetian Shops in Las Vegas until the recent death of its owner Jack Solomon in August 2012, at which time the gallery was closed.
Museum Catharijnconvent: An image depicting Saint Willibrord, the first Bishop of Utrecht, was placed on display.
Ringling College of Art and Design: One-man exhibition.
San Juan Island Museum of Art: One-man exhibition.
The Kennedy Center: A one-man show of drawings at the Center’s first ever exhibit of a visual artist.

LICENSING AGENT

King Features Syndicate: King Features represents some of the world’s most beloved characters, among them are Popeye the Sailor Man, Olive Oyl and Betty Boop. In recent years, the company expanded its portfolio to include a select few contemporary artists and asked me to join their roster.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Independent Study in Italy

Studied and drew for several years in numerous art museums. Studied privately with Italian art restorers; the most influential was Luciano Maranzi. A wonderful highlight was touching the Sistine Ceiling and experiencing from close-up the enormity of Michelangelo’s figures.

NASA- Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Worked as an advanced space illustrator, creating conceptual paintings of planetary and solar landscapes according to data received by the Voyager spacecraft. Created cut-away views and perspective drawings of advanced spacecraft for future missions.

Art Center College of Design

Studied formal drawing and illustration. Most influential instructors: Harry Carmean and Vernon Wilson.

Rhode Island School of Design

Concentrated studies on illustration. Most influential instructor: David Macaulay.

Santa Barbara City College

Studied art and art history. Most influential instructor: Ken Nack.

Santa Barbara High School

General study of art. Most influential instructor: R. Anthony Askew.

MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS & BLOGS
(partial list, nearly 100,000 entries exist)

USA

Artforum International

Architectural Digest

Huffington Post Arts

Juxtapoz

Los Angeles Magazine

Los Angeles Times

Montecito Magazine

MSNBC

Nat’l Geographic Traveler

New York Times

Rosebud

Santa Barbara Magazine

Scientific American

Scientific American MIND

The Hollywood Reporter

Vanity Fair

WORLD

Clase Premier, Mexico

Daily Mail, UK

Der Spiegel, Germany

Derniér Heure, Canada

El Tiempo, Columbia

Época, Spain

Fantasy Art, China

Focus, Italy

Geo, Italy

ImagineFX, England

JPeople, Germany

Jet Set Magazine, Croatia

La Repubblica, Italy

Le Scienza/Mente&Cervello, Italy

Luxury Magazine, Armenia

Luxury Magazine, Korea

Marie Claire, Czech Repub.

Pluna, Uruguay

Supperinteressante, Brazil

Taipei Times, Taiwan

Time Out, Singapore

Transaero Magazine, Russia

The Straits Times, Singapore

The Telegraph, UK

Toronto Star, Canada

Vancouver Sun, Canada

Zing, China

BLOGS

Agrinioart.gr

ArabianBusiness.com

BBC World Service

BusinessInsider.com

CNNgo.com

Evian-thesource.com

Figurativeartist.org

Opticalillusionworld.com

Shortlist.com

Sunriseartists.com

ViewfromthePier.com

Wooarts.com

Yahoo! Malaysia

Yahoo! Games