BIO

Ian Waples does not view art as an absolute separate discipline from science or as separate from most academic, philosophical or religious study. At San Jose State University, where he obtained his degree in Humanities (2007), he learned that many of the great philosophers, if not most, were philosophers of both art and science and he has applied his interdisciplinary education to his art to seek interest in the mundane to make the ordinary become the extraordinary.

Waples discovered oil pastels in college and became enthusiastic when he discovered they could be treated as paint. Taking most all elements from his drawing, art history and sculpture classes, he started creating oil pastel paintings, arrangements and custom footwear in that order. He began ceramics in high school and now produces through a guild.

He believes there is little distinction between his footwear, horticulture art,  ceramics, arrangements, and paintings as they draw from the same principles of color and composition.  As in his Chinatown Series (2021/2022) he invites viewers to see the world in a unique perspective and hopes he  can make back alleys and convenience stores beautiful and interesting. Though he does not boast he is a pioneer in the art world, he believes scientific discovery and innovation combined with art (and only when combined with art), are the pinnacle of human understanding, civilization and achievement.