Scottie Wilson was born in Glasgow, Scotland into a family of five children with parents of Lithuanian origin. He did not attend school and remained illiterate. At the age of sixteen, he joined the army, and then worked in carnivals and circuses. He did not have any artistic knowledge. Scottie Wilson began drawing at the age of forty in his back shop. He moved to Vancouver where he devoted himself exclusively to his creative activity. Pablo Picasso, Jean Dubuffet and André Breton collected his works and, although part of the art brut, his drawings appear in many museums including the Tate Gallery in London.
Scottie Wilson drew the contour of his subjects in black and white, and then treated them by hatching with inks of different colors that produced subtle effects of transparency. Fish, birds and characters, including many self-portraits, abound in his works. Whatever the patterns, they consist of several recurrent forms. The compositions unfold from the center of the support, symmetrically to this axis. They stand out from a blank background or covered by a solid color, and are often framed by decorative elements or stylized arabesques. Scottie Wilson is exhibited in many museums around the world.
