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William John Stankey

United States • 1957

Biography

He went to the University of Dayton and found his passion for the entertainment industry running the college concert venues and booking acts ranging from Bob Dylan and Queen to Earth Wind and Fire and Yes.

After graduation, Stankey moved to New York and began his career as an agent representing personalities including Timothy Leary, Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, Abbie Hoffman, PJ O'Rourke, Bobby Seal Oprah and many others. Stankey turned to artist management for the second phase of his career. He truly created the TV personality as a brand business.

His clients have included Ty Pennington, Shea and Syd McGee, Leanne Ford, Grace Mitchell, Lisa Lillien aka Hungry Girl, Bob Greene, Joy Behar, Amy Bruni and Adam Berry and of course, Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip. In October of 2018, Stankey went deaf in his left ear overnight and in March of 2020 Stankey contract COViD 19 nearly dying from blood clots causing a pulmonary embolism.

The culmination of these two events triggered an existential crisis and after fighting through it for 8 months on his own, he entered a 90 day trauma treatment program to work through a life time of mental health issues. It was there in treatment on April 12, 2021 that Stankey discovered painting as a way of expressing his emotions, love of life and love of music.

Most of his art is abstract and named after music. The shapes and colors he hears come from a condition called synesthesia. He is a true outsider with no formal training. Currently he has gallery representation in the US, Germany and Spain and his work is being sought after for commissions and by collectors. Stankey is considered to be one of leading emerging abstract artists in America.

I work primarily in abstraction. I hear colors and see shapes when I am creating and move with the flow of what I am hearing. I dance when Ipaint quite often because, to me, painting is dancing on a surface. The images that arise inside these abstractions come from the Universe or God if you will. My passion for creating grows with every sunrise.

Nationality

American artists