Dramatic Situations - Corey Wayne Hamilton

About Corey Hamilton

Biography

Corey Wayne Hamilton shot by Randall Edwards

Born in Winnipeg in 1971 and raised in Sherwood Park, Corey Hamilton has to his credit the following: over 200 paintings; thousands of photographs; over 1800 poems; three published books of poetry and prose (with more coming down the pipe); two CDs, one seven-inch EP of spoken word performances and music; one DVD with two of his own movies he made; close to 300 readings and over 40 tattoos (many based on his own designs).

Hamilton isn’t just prolific. He lives for his art. Or as Alan Kellogg once wrote in the Edmonton Journal, “Corey represents a very real triumph of, if you will, the human spirit, of following internal and external muses wherever they lead, whatever they say.”

If it’s true that Hamilton’s work is relentlessly uncompromising and honest, it’s also true that it has a breadth of style and subject matter. His work can range from being shockingly political and personal to downright sweet… from commentaries on pornography, racism, xenophobia, and state-sanctioned violence to, well, flowers, butterflies, sunsets and grain elevators.

But for the art classes he took in high school, he is self-taught. He loves reading, writing, painting, photography, and listening to music. Influenced in the 1980s by the punk rock/hardcore DIY (do-it-yourself) ethic, he lives that ethic to this day.

Is his art based on catharsis, style, or pure passion? You be the judge. Dramatic Situations.com has been online since 1999.

Artist's Statement

I paint, write and photograph for myself. Expressing myself is a process of self examination. Having others view and interpret my work is an additional reward. We all see the world differently, and my art is an expression of my perspective. When I began spoken word, and displaying visual work, I realized that other people were adding their impressions to my experience. My contact with this has led me to become more comfortable with people. I now try to add these encounters to my art. By doing this I hope to establish a dialogue with the viewer/listener which creates a cycle of experience and interpretation that feeds the work.

Corey Hamilton shot by Randall Edwards

Artistic Endeavors

Corey does not constrain himself to a single discipline - he tackles different forms: He's published a half dozen books of poetry; takes brush in hand and paints canvasses; has formal training in photography and takes photos; is a prolific maker of quirky, short-form video poems; and writes copiously and posts his poems to this site.

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