Michael Wilkinson's early training was unique preparation for his art.  While serving in the Air Force as an illustrator, he was posted in Japan, where he studied Japanese art and architecture.  The harmony and simple elegance of the Japanese esthetic made an impression on the young artist and he worked to integrate its principles into his thinking.  The influence of classical western art was strengthened when, in 1978, he traveled to Europe.  There he studied the great works of the ancient Greeks and Michelangelo.  The result of these disparate influences is a synthesis of the strong classical heritage of the West and the refined simplicity of the East, evident in all of Wilkinson's work.  Upon his return to America he moved to New York City, where he studied at the Art Students' League and the New York Academy of Art.  Years earlier he had read The Romantic Manifesto by Ayn Rand and had become interested in her ideas about a category of art called Romantic Realism.   Now he began integrating a radical, consciously held esthetic theory with his art.

From the beginning Wilkinson's aim was to work exclusively in bronze, but in 1984 he became interested in clear acrylic, finding in its optical properties new possibilities for conveying the ideas central to his art.  He now creates both bronze and acrylic sculpture.

Michael Wilkinson has become one of the most collected sculptors of our time.  His sculpture appears in many private and public art collections and is exhibited in fine art galleries worldwide.  He lives and works in New York City and attends several one-man exhibitions of his work per year.