Corey Hamilton was born in Winnipeg in 1971 and raised just outside of Edmonton, he started seriously painting, writing and taking photographs in 1986. Hamilton has to his credit the following: over 200 paintings; thousands of photographs (and like the paintings some photographs are for sale with lay-away options); over 1800 poems; 25 published books of poetry and prose; 1 – 7” EP of spoken word performances and music; two CDs, two DVDs, and over 40 tattoos (many based on his own artwork).
Corey started performing his brand of poetry/spoken word in 1991 when he hosted a poetry open stage for 2 years at the City Media Club.
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.
Corey graduated from NAIT’s Photographic Technologies in 1995. Except for the art classes he took in high school, he is a self taught painter and loves reading, writing, painting, photography, Judo 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. Corey currently resides in Edmonton, Canada and is happily married to his lovely wife Jennifer.
Is his art based on catharsis, style, or pure passion? You be the judge. Dramatic Situations has been online since 1999.