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Ernest Vincent Wood Artist
From Kansas to Killarney .. A journey of discovery
Ernest Vincent Wood III was born in San Diego, California in 1979. A year after his birth his family moved and settled in Wichita, Kansas. From an early age his passion was for painting and drawing, a passion that inexorably led him in later years to studying art at the local university.
Ernest’s Professor, upon noticing the young man’s remarkable understanding of light, suggested a move to oil painting, a transition, that for this fledgling artist, would change and mould his direction of study forever. The painting degree he received through Wichita State University was deeply embedded in the academic old school, stressing plain-air drawing and painting from the model, skills quite often lost on many modern day students.
In 2006 with his academic training complete he was fortunate enough to win a grant from his local town council which, along with some small savings, allowed him attain his dream, the opportunity to both school and paint in Italy, the birthplace of many of the Great Masters.
It was there in the small Umbrian mountain top village of Montecastello de Vibeo, that I and my colleague, the artist Ted Jones, had the good fortune to meet him. It’s not often that an artist of greatly advanced talent lies completely undiscovered by the art world, but this is exactly what appeared to have happened in the case of Ernest Vincent Wood III.
I was introduced to Ernest following a slide show of students work at the International School of Painting and Sculpture there, the story that unfolded blew me away completely. “Standing in front of me was one of the finest young artists I had ever seen anywhere in the world and it transpired that not only had he never sold a painting, but was working in a pizza restaurant to keep himself supplied with the materials needed to create his art, a job he retains to this day.
Not all artists have the good fortune or talent to enable themselves to earn a living from their art, but from the moment of my encounter I was convinced that this young man would shortly be leaving the catering world to embark on a new artistic voyage. ”
There are none of the usual ‘Exhibitions’ or ‘Collections’ sections under this brief biography… Because they would be empty! This is the start…. The start of what I presume will be a long and very successful artistic career. Good luck Ernest
Declan Mulvany – Killarney Art Gallery – 2008
Much has changed since the above piece was penned in 2008 Ernest is now a full time paintner who went on to have many sell out exhibitions
. Wood’s sensitive use of light and realism in his paintings brings to 2021 the seventeenth-century technique of the Roman Caravaggisti and still-life artists of the Dutch Baroque, but with a contemporary twist of clever innuendos that make an Old World technique remarkably relevant.
His recent painting, More Than Material, was selected by The Portrait Society of America as a finalist in the 2020-2021 International Portrait Competition.
Ernest Vincent Wood Artist
