wyatt moody

Fine Art by Wyatt Moody

Wyatt Moody was born in Phoenix Arizona. His adventures are rather extraordinary, and his childhood is rife with encounters one might hear about on old episodes of “Grizzly Adams.” Much of his youth was spent on his families ranch located outside of Winslow, Arizona. Never quite fitting in, at the age of twelve he began to loose touch with his peers, because while they got into Twisted Sister and girls, he found himself spending the nights alone in the desert, hunting rattlesnakes with his hands. Before realizing that they were protected he had even made a pet out of a Gila Monster which his parents made him keep in his bedroom.

Within several years this bedroom collection would include over forty rattlesnakes, consisting of the many different species found throughout Arizona. Hence, his career as a rattlesnake expert was launched (continuing into adulthood). He gave lectures at public libraries and schools, he appeared on TV, and regularly supplied zoos and universities with the different species of Arizona’s venomous snakes.

It was at the age of sixteen though, that Wyatt would undergo a particularly transformative experience. Two months into his sophomore year of high school, Wyatt would be dropped off alone at the family’s ranch, where he would spend nearly a year in isolation with a horse, a dog, and some guns. Perhaps this sounds idyllic, romantic, Utopian, or Thoreau-esque. The truth of the matter is that this was the result of school expulsions, parental despair, and Rebel Without a Cause tendencies.

Spiritually lost, suicidal, armed, and rather sensitive, Wyatt increasingly turned to nature and to the presence of the native peoples who had once inhabited the landscape that now surrounded him. Eventually leaving his rat, infested bunkhouse behind, Wyatt began to spend his nights in the Indian ruins he had discovered while exploring on horseback, many of them hidden within the rugged canyons and volcanic mountains surrounding the ranch. It was here; within these ruins that Wyatt would find a sense of connectedness, which was especially meaningful while living in isolation.
Nights spent amongst metates (ancient grinding stones), arrowheads and hundreds of pieces of black on white pottery scattered across the velvet black cinders blanketing the ground, filled Wyatt’s imagination and captivated his soul. The haunting melody of the wind forcing its way through the holes and cracks in the ancient walls, which at first had put him on edge, now sang to him throughout the night. And it was here also, that Wyatt would find the thoughts and visions of the pottery makers themselves in the form of petroglyphs, collected by the canyon walls and rock formations around him.
Wyatt recalls how at piece the images were with their surroundings. There were sheep and deer, things that connected them to the earth. How different this is from what we might honor with graffiti nowadays!

Eventually Wyatt returned to Phoenix where he went to work for a local taxidermist. There his artistic abilities were quickly recognized and at the age of seventeen he was sculpturing life size forms for everything from rhinos and giraffes to every possible species of North American wildlife. He also began accepting commissions to paint scenes of wildlife using acrylics. During this time, he would come to know such famous artists as Ted Blaylock, Gary Swanson and Ken Rowe, who would all take their part in encouraging Wyatt to pursue his art full time. Sadly, with the increasing demands of school coupled with the pressure to make a living, Wyatt would end up putting his art aside for nearly ten years unsure in his capabilities as an artist.

At the age of twenty-one, Wyatt was running part of a roofing company while painting custom homes on the side. The fast, scheduled pace and long hours conflicted with the creative side of him and within several years had put an end to it completely. In the beginning of 2002, at the age of twenty-eight Wyatt was running on fumes. Making good money while dieing inwardly had become unbearable and in September of 2002, Wyatt hung up the construction, said goodbye to loved ones and headed out once again. This time he and a friend would take six months to drive a rusted 67, Ford Econoline van (to not draw attention) from Phoenix, Arizona to the southern most tip of Argentina and back again. This incredible journey would quickly become an inward journey for Wyatt. Through many nights spent in the open country to the exploration of ancient ruins and rock art by day, Wyatt began to find himself once again in the rich places and beautiful cultures he immersed himself into.

From 2003-2006, though still involved with construction Wyatt began to create pieces of art once again, and in 2005 and 2006, he was commissioned by the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society to create several pieces of sculpture. During this time he traveled to Europe on several occasions and continued his study of ancient rock art.
In 2007 Wyatt gave up construction completely to focus entirely on the unique artwork he is producing today.

Wyatt’s sculptures are an accumulative collection of the journey of mankind. Reflecting not only mans connectedness to the earth but also to one another. With Wyatt’s most recent endeavors, he hopes to serve as a liaison of sorts between individuals from the past with contemporary audiences, who are often hungry for both beauty and meaning.
His sculptures (complete with lichen) were immediately noticed. Working with a variety of mediums to achieve incredible realism, private collectors and museums have sought his work. To his knowledge he is the only artist in the world specializing in the recreation of actual rock art sites and the first artist ever to represent this ancient art in this way. Eco-friendly and an alternative to defacement, Wyatt is recreating something that individuals have created thousands of years ago-oftentimes far from civilization, which makes Wyatt draw upon his own experiences of being sixteen and alone in the desert. His work brings forth voices from the past, contributing both to the preservation of these voices and to an awareness of them. He is thrilled to engage in this connectedness with history. His audiences can be given the unique opportunity to have something in their office or home that is really out there, that is truly being trampled on by coyotes, that has actually been under the moon for thousands of years.