Nestled inside the lobby of the Palm Beach Hotel Condominium is the art studio of Palm Beach resident James Wilner.
Paintings wrap around the studio’s walls, inviting passersby to meet the gaze of the figures born out of the mind of the architect-turned-painter. Some, like “Choir Practice,” manipulate the human form into otherworldly beings. Others, such as his painting of late fashion designer and resident Iris Apfel, resemble their subject with striking detail.
These paintings are part of Wilner’s goal to create a “21st century approach to figure drawing,” he told the Daily News.
Wilner said the studio — a former hair salon — that he purchased in 2018 is likely the island’s last remaining street-accessible art studio.
“I’m probably the only practicing artist in Palm Beach that is visible and accessible. I don’t know of any others,” Wilner said. “There used to be more … when I would come down with my parents back in the 1950s and ’60s, there were a couple of artists who had studios on Royal Poinciana Way. None of them are around anymore.”
While there may be plenty of galleries, Wilner said, they serve the role of a marketplace rather than a creative space for local artists.
“Palm Beach has a lot of galleries, but they’re very high end, very formal, and it’s just like selling a product,” he said.
Turning to people who buy art, Wilner said many are more interested in the “credentials” that come with owning an art piece created by a well-known artist.
Wilner said art should be about the personal connection both the artist and the buyer have with a piece.
That belief is the reason Wilner said keeps his door open whenever he’s in the studio, despite the drawbacks.
“Sometimes people don’t leave and sit and talk for a while, which can be kind of a pain,” he said, chuckling.
Having an open door also means plenty of critiques — positive and negative — which Wilner said he welcomes since it is “so personal.” The feedback allows him to view his paintings from a completely different perspective, he said.
Wilner said painting is his “Ikigai,” a Japanese concept for one’s reason to live.
“I’m 82-years-old and it’s about time I had something like that,” he said. “So whatever time I have, I spend here.”
His studio represents the culmination of a journey to find self-fulfillment that began nearly 40 years ago, when the woman he had been dating passed away from cancer, he said.
At the time, Wilner had his own architectural firm in Bethesda, Maryland near the Washington, D.C. area and was finding success developing real estate.
“But I never really liked it,” he said of those endeavors. “And when she passed, I started asking myself questions, ‘why am I continuing to do things that I don’t really like to do very much?’”
Soon after, Wilner said, he hired an artist to learn how to paint figures and practiced for years before he made the switch to being an artist.
While a home in Florida was not part of his plan, that changed in 2016 when he bought his parents’ apartment at the Winthrop House Condominium from their estate. He planned to use the apartment at 100 Worth Ave. as a summer home to visit one or twice a year.
“I had a house in Maryland, which I adored, but I sold it because it was big … and there was just too much to maintain by my age then,” he said.
Though it has been eight years, Wilner is still acclimating to Florida.
“Florida’s a weirdo place,” Wilner told the Daily News. “I never thought I’d be living here, but I enjoy it because I enjoy what I’m doing.”
To see Wilner’s collection, visit https://www.jameswilner.com/ or check out his Instagram. Prices range from $1,500 to $15,000.
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
