February 27 – May 29, 2016
This retrospective of the photographic illustrator of I SPY books published by Scholastic Inc. includes large-scale photographs and Wick’s elaborate sets and models offering challenging visual riddles, puzzles, and optical illusions that challenge children and adults alike.
Photographic illustrator Walter Wick – known for his I SPY search-and-find images teeming with toys, machines, and illusions – leads programs February 27-28 at the always-admission-free Woodson Art Museum in Wausau during the opening weekend of an exhibition featuring his whimsical images that engage curious minds of all ages. During opening-weekend programs, Wick will discuss his mesmerizing images, creative process, and playful concepts.
Included in the exhibition are three-dimensional models – comparable to small-scale movie sets – that Wick designs and arranges, along with photo illustrations from the I SPY and Can You See What I See? series, Seymour books, and Wick’s award-winning A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder, and Walter Wick’s Optical Tricks, a book of photographic illusions. Nine images feature accompanying interactive activities offering questions or puzzles to solve by closely examining the photo. These directly engage viewers with specific tasks that are do-able in the gallery.
Wick’s challenging search-and-find photographs, visual riddles, and playful scenes are cherished by legions of readers of these Scholastic Inc. books, with over forty-five million copies in print worldwide.
A Joint Effort Marketing grant from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism supports expanded Walter Wick exhibition marketing efforts.
About Walter Wick
Miami-based artist Walter Wick began his career honing technical skills as a commercial photographer. Later, he opened his own New York City studio, produced work for magazines such as Psychology Today, Discover, and Newsweek, and for ten years designed and created photographic puzzles for Games magazine, where his career path intersected with that of Will Shortz who eventually became Games magazine editor. Wick went on to build a career creating mind-boggling photo illustrations, often from his intricately designed model sets, for search-and-find masterpieces and optical-illusion images.
“In the world of puzzles, only a few people have the ability to create an original, elegant, well-designed challenge and present it with great artistic sense. And when that artistic sense is photographic . . . well, I can think of only one living ‘puzzle person’ who has it – Walter Wick,” said Shortz, who now is the New York Times crossword editor, director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and National Public Radio’s puzzlemaster. “ . . . Now, with this exhibition, Walter is getting overdue recognition for his ingenious, beautiful sort of play – art that makes you use your brain.”
All artwork courtesy of New Britain Museum of American Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Walter and Linda Wick.
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