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Morgan
Weistling
Morgan Weistling began his artistic training on his father’s
lap at 19 months of age, where he learned how to draw and more
importantly, use his imagination. Capitalizing on his father’s
talent for telling a story in comic strip form, Morgan began
to develop a sense of narrative in his drawing. “It was
here that art became a language for me.” At the age of
12, Morgan applied his interest in art to studying his father’s
art books and began his art school studies at the Brandes Art
Institute at 15. Working in a Los Angeles art supply store while
attending art school, Morgan chanced to show his artwork to
a prominent illustrator. As a result of their encounter, at
the age of 19, Weistling found himself employed at a top movie
poster agency in Hollywood. For the next 14 years, Morgan illustrated
for every movie studio in Hollywood. His clients included Universal/Amblin
Entertainment, Disney, MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner
Brothers, Columbia Pictures and TriStar.
In addition to movie posters, Weistling created all the cover
artwork for the video series, McGee and Me for Focus on the
Family and his art can be seen on numerous magazine, book,
CD and video covers as well as Sega pinball machines. Since
he has made fine art the focus of his art career, the collector
demand for his originals has been overwhelming.
With his masterful use of oils, Morgan Weistling brings a
scene to life with spectacular lighting, creating a sense
of wonder and engaging the viewer’s imagination and emotion.
His dreamlike images touch the viewer’s heart, using
more than sentimentality to engage the viewer. His canvases
are filled with brushwork that tells a story beyond the subject
matter. Like a skilled movie director, he manipulates the
focus of interest with suggestions and impressions of forms
that are barely realized and allow the viewer’s imagination
to fill in the details. “There is a story underneath
the story of my paintings,” Morgan adds, “I don’t
hide the process of how I painted it. You can see the layers
and count the strokes it took to get there. With some styles
of painting, the closer you get to the canvas, the more you
will see. With mine, the more you step back, the more detail
you will see. That’s not easy, which is why it fascinates
me.” Morgan Weistling follows in the footsteps of the
masters he admires, John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn and Nicolai
Fechin as well as many others. In all of his vibrant work,
from western art to feminine forms, Weistling crafts a narrative,
driven by clarity, focus and purpose, drawing on images inspired
by his beliefs and scenes from daily life. “My hope is
that people will enjoy viewing my artwork as much I enjoyed
painting it. For me, art is my language used to communicate
to others how I see God’s creation. When I experience
another artist’s work, I love to see through their eyes
and find out as much about the artist as the subject they
painted. That is what makes art so interesting.”
Weistling, a highly sought-after teacher, conducts private
workshops with juried students and teaches at the prestigious
Scottsdale Artist School. Recent honors and awards include
the Patron’s Choice Award and the Trustees Purchase Award
at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles, CA,
the Prix de West Purchase Award at the National Cowboy and
Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK, and the Patron's
Choice Award at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage. Weistling's
book, The Image of Christ, was a finalist for the Evangelical
Christian Publishers Association Gold Medallion Book Award.
Weistling and his artist wife JoAnn met in art school. Their
daughter is often a model in Weistling’s paintings. They
make their home in California.
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