Backpack Painting

WiL Vélez, is a self taught mixed media painter and multidisciplinary artist of Indigenous North American and Colombian decent. His paintings, paper sculptures, and photographs have been collected for more than 15 years. Vélez was raised, primarily, in Pearl River, MS, where he spent most of his formative childhood years honing his skills in drawing and painting. His earliest subjects were the plants and trees, wild and farm animals of the surrounding rural South Mississippi setting. Over the years his style has become increasingly versatile, developing to embrace abstraction and depict scenes directly inspired by dreams, nightmares, and personal life experiences. The artist ties himself to his subjects by painting, within any left eye, a red line to symbolize his impaired vision due to hypoplasia, or underdeveloped optic nerves. The condition lends itself to the authenticity of the artist's perspective and has served as a lifelong source of inspiration. Vélez is an active member of the arts community in New Orleans where he has lived and worked since 2016. In 2020 his art history obsession led to a degree which was then followed by a barrage of professional work experience to include fine art conservation, curating, framing, creative marketing, web design and photography. As of May 2024, he has returned, full-time, to his foremost passion, painting. Over the last year, Vélez has been experimenting with the fluidity of wood stains, combining the medium with acrylics and sometimes inks to create expressive strokes that manifest city skylines and aerial Martian landscapes, dancing microorganisms with elements of New Orleans architecture, and uncanny dreamscapes. His latest series of small eclectic paintings focus on the world immediately around him and reflect the breadth of his varied interests and skillset.