Corey Wesley is a Harlem-based contemporary artist creating one-of-one figurative works through Milton Wes Art. His series Unapologetic Faces: The Cost of Being Seen is built around archetypes rather than portraits of specific people.
Born on New York City’s Lower East Side and now based in Harlem, Wesley came to art after years of working across psychology, writing, business, music, and financial services. That history shows up in the faces. He pays attention to expression, identity, vulnerability, and what people reveal without saying anything.
Why aluminum
Many of Wesley’s larger works are produced on archival aluminum. The surface responds to the light around it, so what catches your attention can change depending on where you stand and the time of day.
The aluminum works float approximately half an inch from the wall and arrive ready to hang. At 24 by 36 inches, they have enough scale to hold a wall without requiring an oversized room.
One work, made once
Each work is one of one. There is no numbered edition or second copy produced after the first is acquired. Once a piece leaves availability, that work is no longer offered to another collector.
That distinction is simple, but it matters if you want to know exactly what you are acquiring.
The faces are archetypes
The figures in Unapologetic Faces are not people you can identify or look up. Wesley leaves out the biography so the viewer has room to bring something of their own to the work.
Two people can stand in front of the same face and see completely different things. That is part of the reason the expressions are not explained down to a single meaning.
See the work
Wesley’s work has appeared in Brown Style Magazine and New York Weekly. Unapologetic Faces debuted at Goddard Riverside in New York City.
Current works include The Cost of Being Seen, Two-Faced, and Love and Lies.
