Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1957, Wayne Hoey first studied painting with noted artist Rafael DeSoto at his studio in Bellport, Long Island, NY. Later he attended the School of Visual Arts and Virginia Commonwealth University earning a degree. While still a student, he began exhibiting his work at Richmond's Anderson Gallery along side other artists. In 1984, Hoey relocated to New York where he began using the Art Students League of NY as a second studio to gain his mastery of painting the human form. When he started a family in 2003, he moved to New Jersey where he now lives and works. He continues to access the NYC artworld regularly nearby.

Hoey has consistently blended idea art with the figure. Though Hoey paints portraits of people, his work is reflective about our place in time. His figures are juxtaposed against the harsh contrast of natural and artificial worlds. He separates the figures from their surroundings within the image by color and scale; and in doing so, creates what he refers to as layers of consciousness. We can see this development with layered content as far back as 1978. In his work, the foreground and backgrounds are interchangeable with neither dominating the canvas. Each painting (usually) portrays only 1 person shown from different view points, and these subjects are lost in thought in the minutiae of everyday life. Hoey's meditative approach directs viewers to ask large questions about their existence which is amplified by the contrast of natural world.

Hoey begins from charcoal drawings, props, photos and live models. As a painting progresses, a storyline emerges inspired by his imagination and the various subjects at hand. Images, thoughts and environments accumulate. There is an ongoing transformation of form, subject and color thoughout.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Hoey had several important exhibitions in commercial galleries including PS 122 Gallery (1989 New York) where he exhibited 29 works and shared the gallery with other artist: Mike Love. He also exhibited on several occasions with sculptor Kurt Novak at OneTwentyEight Gallery (1988 New York) in the lower east side of New York. He has also shown locally at the Hamilton Street Gallery (2006, 2007, New Jersey). Hoey’s work is featured in private collections in the USA, and Brazil.