Featured Artist: Waynem

Waynem’s surreal designs allow his audience to travel the world, explore the deepest recesses of nature, and visit new planets with unusual characters — unlike any they’ve seen before. His artwork introduces us to oddities like a lost space cowboy, an octopus that loves the gym, and other ornate wildlife.

Wayne Minnis has spent a great deal of time traveling outside of his home country, Australia. Not only has it allowed him to experience new cultures and visit famous galleries around the world, but it has also taught him that he can be anywhere and everywhere and can still draw as long as he has “a table, a comfortable chair and a PowerPoint”. He jokes that he wouldn’t turn down a “good view and an iced coffee” either though.

Although Waynem enjoys drawing in a sketch book — and he also used to work with acrylics and gouache — he now prefers digital mediums because of the “ability to continually refine and adjust” the direction of a piece. He shares that when he is having trouble finishing a project, he takes time away and “suddenly I'll think of a solution which never occurred to me before and it will all just click into place.” He understands that one of the greatest struggles by artists is the “frustration trying to achieve in reality what you can see in your head.” He reminds us that you shouldn’t be discouraged by it, but rather use that as encouragement to “keep trying.”

Waynem shares that his dreams are not what inspire him, rather he is able to “save all my best imagining for when I'm awake.” He admits that he would “happily live in the Marvel universe, or even Star Wars” because of the ease of exploration or the chance at discovering something new. His interest in the unknown and exploration manifests itself in his art and he incorporates a “twist of the fantastic or surreal” in his designs.

He also admits that he’d love to fly because he’d “see the world from new, unique perspectives” and it would allow him to “save myself a lot of money on airfares.” If he could change one aspect of society with his art, he would instill a “greater appreciation of the world around us, both culturally and environmentally”. He hopes that his art can translate some of the wonder of travel to his viewers.