Born and raised in Rhode Island, Paul Wilcox grew up in a family of artists, entrepreneurs, and musicians. He majored in art in college and excelled in cartoon art, illustration, and caricature drawing. After college, Paul joined the U.S. Naval Reserves and soon received orders to report to the USS Hammerberg in Naples, Italy.
With a desire to expand on his creativity and to learn photography, Paul purchased a used Pentax Spotmatic II film camera from the military base exchange. From then on, throughout his tour of duty, Paul’s Pentax frequently accompanied him on his travels to the many European countries he visited.
When he returned to his home in Rhode Island as a civilian, Paul joined a commercial printing firm where he worked in prepress as a lithographic stripper - arranging film negatives in specific patterns to create pages - a much sought-after skill that required accurate measurement, precision and a trained eye for composition and color.
Throughout the years, Paul pursued many hobbies and interests including music and guitars, exhibiting at sports and classic car shows, cartoon art, graphic design, and photography. In 2003, he and his wife moved from Rhode Island to Arizona, where in his spare time, he enjoyed photographing the Arizona desert and mountains, Arizona vineyards, and other places of interest such as Sedona, Tubac, Jerome, and Old Town Cottonwood.
In 2015, Paul retired from an extensive career in printing and promotional products and created Wilcox PhotoArt, where he focuses on the main components of his artistic expression – photography with digital art illustration.
Today, Paul and his wife reside in Phoenix, Arizona and Lisbon, Portugal.