Heather Wilcoxon

Wilcoxon’s abstract works are imbued with the sensation of a quest, both across the surface, and deep below. Like an ancient mariner, Wilcoxon fearlessly voyages into the interior of perception (she paints from memory, as though with her eyes closed), tapping into the subconscious where things never are what they seem.

Wielding light of Turneresque quality, Wilcoxon’s colorful surfaces are foregrounded by strong, thick lines that might serve as navigation tools, apparently representing familiar shapes and objects. But the lines, interacting with the color fields, prevent any kind of singular interpretation. A ribcage emerging from a nighttime seascape, dominated by an enormous wave, does not quite match the rest of the barely perceptible boat; a reflection of a flooded house door in the midst of a field of gently colored water does not quite match the door; a white spool’s thread on a dark surface is not quite attached to the spool, reaching out into the night with its many loose ends. As the romantic meets the surreal, seeing may, at a certain depth point, be replaced with sensing. Wilcoxon’s work is an invitation to question what is being perceived, to move inward beyond the singularity of meaning, to uncover the indescribable—an emotion perhaps— and be unafraid. Accepting means no less than being submersed into the unsettled waters of Wilcoxon’s painterly vision, expertly stirred by her oil and mixed media technique.

-Elena Deem