Dean Wilson – Creation Within Art

Date: October 18 2023, January 17 2024

“Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) turned my life upside down. I wanted to end it. One day my mum bought me pencils and I started drawing like crazy, my hospital room was covered in pictures. I could draw but I couldn’t feed myself, I had no fine motor skills. But when I’m creative, the tremors stop, and my mind is calm. I began to heal through art and creation.”

For Dean Wilson it has been a slow and frustrating journey learning to live with the debilitating effects of FND. Creating art has become like therapy for him and he began to paint in his current style eighteen months ago. In a little over a year, Dean who now lives on Kaurna land in South Australia, has created hundreds of paintings.

He paints with frenetic energy, often ambidextrous, using aerosol and acrylic paint applied with brush, scraper, knife, pens, and fingers, flicking paint onto the canvas to create movement and life. His artwork is a vibrant expression of colour and movement. “I want to make my paintings look like they are alive because each one is a part of me, a story from my life experiences or someone I know.”

The “Flicking Paint Around” exhibition will be at Little Bang Brewery from 18 th October 2023 to 17 th January 2024. It is a collection of Dean’s best work and will hang on the wall of the brewery’s taproom. Live painting events will be held every second Sunday starting from 29 th October 2023. Starting from 11am, visitors can chat to Dean whilst he paints, purchase small custom pieces created on the spot, and Dean can also take details for larger commissions.