Emily Wilker

Acts of Light

My work is inspired by forces of nature whether it be a gust of wind, the smell of the ocean air or the digging up of dirt with my hands. I make paintings about the sensorial experience of being alone in nature.

Surfaces are scratched, carved, layered, and peeled back again, built up of heavy, gunky material such as sandy crusted paint, homemade wood clay, and acrylic mediums of various viscosities and flows; paint is blended and fluffed on with a brush, and in other spaces applied in a squiggle or line straight from the tube. Marked through a steadfast motion, the pigment begins to optically mix shades of red, blue, pink and green foraging images of pondering waters, cascading rivers, New England wetlands and entangled woods. 

By using perspective as a tool, I invite the spectator to position themselves within the work, allowing them to imagine themselves as part of the moment being depicted. I’m dedicated to studying the dissolve of figure and ground, human-in-nature, an atomization of the world. — EW

Into The Light is a body of work that explores the drama found in nature where land and water mingle. On the shores of creeks, rivers, ponds and oceans, Wilker uses plein air painting as her first step for generating an image, creating a composition that is true to the time spent in each special location. Back in the studio, she continues to build upon the surface through the layering of acrylic paint peels, modeling paste, and found objects. In a steadfast motion, these images come to light through the process of addition and subtraction of materials that’s unique to each painting.