Alex Wilhite, who has been deaf since birth, attended to the Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) in St. Louis, Missouri, the American School of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait and returned to the United State of America and was awarded high school degree from the Deshler High School, Tuscumbia, Alabama. He went to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester, New York and Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. briefly. Where he received B.F.A. from the University of North Alabama 1987 and his M.F.A. from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York 1990.

Wilhite's large-scale works are boldly abstract, geometrically precise and typically characterized by bright, strong colors. Post-minimalist painter, Wilhite considers Post-World War II abstract artists like Jackson Pollack, Frank Stella, and Mark Rothko his greatest influences.

Wilhite has participated in both solo and groups exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Japan, and has participated in artist-in-residency programs and other art programs for children in Kentucky and Alabama. Currently he is participating as a full time art teacher to teach with the adults with developed disabilities at the Enrichment Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. One of Wilhite's paintings, Illusion of Red & Blue, is featured on the cover of Design for Accessibility: an Arts Administrators Guide, published in 1994 by the National Assembly of State Art Agencies and the National Endowment of the Arts.

Artist's Statement

My years of experience in traveling throughout the world guide my inspiration about the value of color, which changes every hour in every day. My perception of color is the value of the three primary colors changing into varieties of colors. High or strong colors define outlines; strong contrast are involved into my own style of painting, which influences me to follow the value of natures colors to change from sunrise to sunset. I use those colors to combine with black, white or grays. I try to develop two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms. I still research and experiment in abstract illusionism. I am deeply interested in combining Hard-edge paintings into action, which flows into optical colors. Gradation represent my form of Neo-Platonism.

My emphasis is analysis of art as idealism or illusionism, which may he subdivided into Neo-Platonism as Philosophies postulating an ideal element in all paintings or drawings. I favor a form of illusionism with reality dependent upon a relationship with my mind. It is my desire to create idealism of illusionism as my subject. It contributes to the hypothesis that only spirits and experience are my inspiration, which develop the creative ideas of my art work. The idealism and illusionism in modern philosophies were developed chiefly by Greek, Italian, German, English, Japanese, Chinese and American philosophers who have influenced my life. Right now I am practicing Zen which provides the aesthetics and affability my paintings and drawings reflect.

Long ago the recognized painters, were influenced by Avant Garde, Islamic Art, Zen Art, Bauhaus Arts and culture. I have traveled the world to study arts and cultures. I received a number of awards to attend different art schools. I have studied art, engineering, and architecture. I received my B.F.A. from the University of North Alabama in 1987 and M.F.A. from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, where I studied under Richard Bove and Ted Kurahara in 1990. I have exhibited art in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan, New York, California, South Florida, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and several regional galleries. I have traveled in Europe, the Middle East, and two-thirds of the United States. I am a confident conversationalist artist.