Wesley grew up in a rural southern town in Georgia and displayed an artistic talent at an early age. In 1990, he entered the Valdosta State University BFA Program on a competitive art scholarship and immersed himself in developing his talents. After several years of study at VSU, Wesley began to feel frustrated with his college direction. He decided to leave with his Associate Degree and head for Hollywood, California. Infatuated with hyper-realism, Wesley pursued work in the motion picture industry creating realistic people, characters, and animals. His obsession with advanced translucent silicones led him to develop his own formulas and techniques which in turn catapulted him to the forefront of the makeup effects industry."

Wesley has worked on over 45 motion pictures and various television shows. His credits include A Beautiful Mind, Hannibal, Batman and Robin, The Rock, and Collateral. He has personally worked with such actors as Tom Cruise, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Will Smith, Chow Yun-Fat, and Russell Crowe. He has been featured in numerous magazine articles and television coverage and has received many awards, including an Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as well as an Academy Award.

Wesley eventually became dissatisfied with the medium. “My endeavors in the motion picture industry were rooted in the pursuit of sculpture but became about everything else. I had to flee to preserve my artistic sanity, which was pretty drastic considering I was at the height of my industry.” Wesley moved into the mountains of North Carolina with his wife and two children to “converse with my muse on a more intimate level”. His sculpture studio is a 2,300 sq. ft. barn that is nestled with his home on a mountaintop.

Wesley is currently represented by Summit One Gallery in Highlands, NC. In January 2008 he was the first sculptor installed at the “Sculpture in the Riverwalk” in Bradenton, Florida. In April 2008 he delivered a sculpture to be installed in “Sculpture for New Orleans”, a city wide revitalization public art project. In addition to pursuing commissions, portraits, and working on his own compositions, Wesley also co-founded a sculpture park in Cashiers, North Carolina. The 12.5 acre park installed its first five permanent sculptures in 2007 and is hosting its first Bi-Annual Invitational Exhibition in 2008 with ten sculptors from around the country.

Affiliations

National Sculpture Society
The Portrait Society of America
The International Sculpture Center
The Tri-State Sculptors Association
The Village Green-Sculpture on the Green

Awards

Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement
Emmy Award-Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Hollywood Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Award
Saturn Award

Public Installations

Holiday Inn-Nationwide
Intercontinental Hotels Group Corporate Headquarters-Atlanta, GA
Wake Forest-Rolesville High School-Wake Forest, NC
Emmy Hall of Fame-Burbank, CA
Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce-Lone Pine, CA
Frontier Motel, Lone Pine, CA
North East Sales and Distribution, Inc-
Winder, GA-Installations throughout the southeast
Kemmons Wilson, Inc.-Memphis, TN