He\u2019s a pioneer when it comes to using computers to create art, having traveled to Santa Fe to take computer courses when Macs first came on the scene.<\/p>\n
He credits his professors at Ole Miss for instilling in him a scientific approach to art.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, I had one heck of good teachers. And these were mostly from Europe. My teachers were mostly physicists, they were trained as physicists, but they also had an art background,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I got up there, I couldn\u2019t believe what they were doing. They were taking a physics approach to teaching art; they went to the core of the thing, to the basics and built up from there. These people were just pretty incredible; in fact, they changed my whole life. When I left, they said, \u2018You know\u2019 \u2013 now, this is in the early \u201960s \u2013 they said, \u2018One day, there\u2019s going to be a machine that will come and it will change everything. And it will probably come from science, not the arts.\u201d<\/p>\n
And computers came at just the right time for Wells, who said that by 1968, creating art was starting to lose some of its thrill.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was through my second marriage, everything around looked kind of bleak \u2026 and I said, \u2018Hmmm \u2026 I think I should have more fun when I paint, what could I do?\u2019 Art was becoming exercise, and when it\u2019s exercise, you shouldn\u2019t do it anymore, it\u2019s over,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Using computers in his art kick-started his work, and the rest is history. He incorporates drawing, painting and photography into what he creates digitally, which is evident in the mixed-media pieces currently on display. Wells has also started creating pieces using 3D printing.<\/p>\n And when walking into the DAC and seeing Wells\u2019 work, chances are, you\u2019ll see yourself, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to see them as the subject, you see, because they are the subject. I build things to make people react,\u201d Wells said. \u201cFrom my background in psychology, I pretty well know what people don\u2019t like, and so I try to make that sometimes. It kind of trips up the mind. When you expect something and you get something else, it\u2019s pretty weird. Paul Simon, the songwriter, said, \u2018The secret to songwriting is giving people exactly what they don\u2019t expect exactly when they expect it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n