Wildbank, who was born deaf, was awarded a fellowship at Yale University in 1969, has a B.F.A. from the Pratt Institute, 1970, and an M.A. in Education from Columbia University, 1972. He was a teacher for the deaf until 1978 when decided to go to Europe were upon his return started his professional career by doing portraits of David Hockney and Luciano Pavarotti. Wildbank describes his painting style as photorealism and visionary and hopes to take his audience to a place that allows them become more aware of their own inner self (Wildbank, 2005).