"To be an honest artist, you have to be concerned with living life to the fullest," said Wayne Crothers.
An Australian from Melbourne, Wayne, a woodblock print artist, is exhibiting for his third time in this autumn's College Women's Association of Japan Print Show. He says his work typically includes many abstract elements always within recognizable forms. "I want to produce art which is beautiful, but which also has deeper meanings to provoke thought on social and international issues," he said. "I try to convey ideas to encourage people to appreciate nature and to be interested in things beyond their daily lives, to view the world on a grander scale."
Wayne, now 42, began working out his attitude to life and his personal aspirations from as long ago as his high-school years. He chose to take a diploma course in art and design at Victoria College, Melbourne. "I was interested in doing my own work, in expressing my own feelings in a visual manner," he said. "I was very optimistic. Art enables me to have optimism, to find an outlet for my feelings. To be without outlet for concepts is frustrating, and pessimism can set in. The challenge of life is to remain optimistic."