Edward Walton Wilcox
Edward Walton Wilcox A n A mer ica n Gothic
Š 2009 Edward Walton Wilcox
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Idle Engine, 18 x 24 inches, bitumen on canvas
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r e v i va l
“When the anxieties of this world become too severe and my abilities to navigate the advances
and subsequent demands of this technological age fail me, I create for myself an instrument of retreat, a reflection pool for the mind. It is there that I withdraw to the twilight fields and amber vistas of my dreams. My paintings are the invention of my psyche, providing for the viewer an escape route from the snares and distractions of these calamitous times. My work takes many cues from nostalgic reflection, referencing a past so heavily romanticized as to reach toward the ideal. These are imagined histories, a place where simplicity and an almost primitive nature converse with one’s soul, a place where dreams open out onto a landscape of the unconsciousness drawing a well of emotions so often suppressed in the confusion of the present to otherwise not be experienced. To loose oneself in a painting is to arrest time itself. I think of them as lamentations of a lost paradigm that may have ever only existed in my mind.�
eww
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Hauling Ass, 18 x 30 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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“A rumbling iron giant racing toward its end imperals both its passen-
gers as well as all who are in its path. The reality of its unstoppable nature now strikes a chord with life itself and its finite conclusion, its power unquestioned, its course indivertable.�
eww
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Navigating a Starless Night, 13.5 x 31.5 inches, bitumen on canvas
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The Kid at the Mouth of the Abyss, 15 x 30 inches, bitumen on panel
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The Tethered Beast, 32 x 52 inches, bitumen on panel
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Der Owl, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen on canvas
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The Troubled Swan, 15 x 30 inches, bitumen on panel
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Eternal Slumber, 10 x 14 inches, bitumen on panel
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Windless Day, 23 inch tondo, bitumen and tempera on panel
“Individuals in an environment of reposed tension. There captured in a single moment, a narrative
arriving at regret for the loss of time. It is a memento mori of sorts that celebrates the soul that will eventually, as all of us, be rendered carriage-less.�
eww
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“Windmills are an old convention of symbology depicting man’s ever present requirement for toil
in this life. These are the workings of an independent mind, a dream held captive by the disciplines of this world.”
eww
Der Mill at Twilight, 11 x 26 inches, bitumen on panel
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Gothic Ruin at Fourentoe River, 36 x 24 inches, bitumen on panel
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Ponter’s Hall, 34 x 60 inches, bitumen on panel
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The Dying Sun, 12 x 24 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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“I strive to capture a world now
lost to an industrialized reality, romanticized depictions of a world before our present cacophony of society and global unrest. A tranquil place of escape created out of a nostalgic desire for a simpler existence, a reaction to our present age.”
eww
Lord Baskerville’s Pond, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen and tempera on canvas
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The Golden Sliver, 9.25 x 11.25 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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Tributary, 30 x 40 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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Our Ancestral Home, 30 x 38 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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I Keep the Devil in a Small House Just Outside of Town, 14 x 22 inches, bitumen on panel
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City Lights, 60 x 60 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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“To life, liberty,
And that melancholy door that awaits us all In the great beyond.�
eww
City Lights #2, 60 x 60 inches, bitumen on panel
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Mt Lee, 96 x 120 inches, bitumen on panel
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“Iconic imagery surrounds
us, constantly influencing our perspective on issues regarding fame, celebrity and the nature of success. Riffing on “popular culture” whilst finding a romance in the beauty of decay, eroding surfaces obscure stereotype cliches of what once was. Nostalgia leaves a dimming view of the tinsel and glamour in a world of dissipating promise.”
eww
Sending Signals, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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Drive-By Tin Man, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen on canvas
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Mao As Panda, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen on panel Guido, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen on canvas Marilyn, 40 x 36 inches, bitumen on panel Andy in the Netherlands, 40 x 36 inches, bitumen on panel
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Trashed, 24 x 80 inches, bitumen on panel
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Angel, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen on canvas
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Death and the Maiden, 61.5 x 73.75 inches, bitumen on panel
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This page, left to right:
Temperance, 36 x 24 inches, bitumen on panel Sophia, 36 x 24 inches, bitumen on panel
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“In Gothic Romanticism, the in-
dividual at the edges of society becomes the main subject. My work is a moral critique of a world attempting to shroud itself in beauty and diversion in the midst of its own collapse. My intention is for the work to have a preternatural effect on the viewer; evoking at times a sense of awe, terror, insignificance, romantic sensuality, allusions to our self-destructive nature, the temporal nature of beauty and life, and the decay of the material world as a constant of which we are always aware.�
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The Wandering Agnes, 44 x 24 inches, bitumen on panel
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Trophy Skull, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen on panel
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White Lilies, A Still Life, 24 x 36 inches, bitumen on canvas
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Calliope, 36 x 80 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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“In my decompositions I begin
with a highly articulated landscape and then follow a systematic process of destruction that is then arrested to arrive at a new and beautiful result. A new creation is brought into existence by a carefully orchestrated series of accidents.�
eww
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Blaster, 11 x 17 inches, bitumen on canvas
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Disintegrator, 11 x 17 inches, bitumen on canvas
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This page, left to right:
Are You Going With Me?, 60 x 48 inches, tempera and bitumen on panel Desert Nachtern, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen and tempera on canvas
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Parchment Diary, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen and tempera on canvas Arboretum, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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primitive
With the Arrival of the Red Balloons, their Philistine Nature and their Obvious Disregard for his Warnings to Adjourn, Serpent Decides to do Something Rash, 33 x 63 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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“Romanticism is where my work finds
its voice in both paintings and sculpture. The genre’s inherent qualities and conventions are a suitable vehicle of expression for the cultural criticisms and social climate in which our generation finds itself; a paradigm match, which includes such concepts as excess, transgression, diffusion and ambivalence concerning both rationality and morality”
eww
Noah’s Ark, 74 x 41 x 18 inches, carved polychromed cedar
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Lazarus Altarpiece (detail)
Lazarus Altarpiece, 60 x 29 x 9 inches, carved polychromed cedar
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“In a world where all is allegory, a
vocabulary of images emerge sometimes untranslatable, creating a stage for dreams to be enacted. An environment to wander and navigate through the great beyond.�
eww
Beggar in a Bed of Finery, 30 x 18 x 12 inches, carved polychromed cedar
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Paradise Triptych, 25.5 x 101 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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This page, left to right:
Cypress Topiary, 14 x 20 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel High Grove, 14 x 20 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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Topiary Landscape, 20 x 16 inches, bitumen and tempera on canvas
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“As I struggle to understand
this modern world a parallel is drawn between myself and the artists of the Romantic period (1740-1800). Their charge was to engage the human spirit or psyche in an age of progress and technological advances. Beauty, truth, passion, desire and raw emotions were constantly pushed aside or veiled in a paradigm shift from our idealic experience of a sublime nature to one of the “enlightenment” where the gathering of information and the constant pursuit of material gain and industrial advances now eclipses the romantic leanings of one’s soul.”
eww Little Date Palm, 8 x 10 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
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Reflection Pool, 14 x 18 inches, bitumen and tempera on canvas
INDEX OF IMAGES
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Andy in the Netherlands, 40 x 36 inches, bitumen on panel, p 29
I Keep the Devil in a Small House Just Outside of Town, 14 x 22 inches, bitumen
Angel, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen on canvas, p 32
Arboretum, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, p 43
Idle Engine, 18 x 24 inches, bitumen on canvas, p 2
Are You Going With Me?, 60 x 48 inches, tempera and bitumen on panel, p 42
Lazarus Altarpiece, 60 x 29 x 9 inches, carved polychromed cedar, p 46
Beggar in a Bed of Finery, 30 x 18 x 12 inches, carved polychrome cedar, p 47
Little Date Palm, 8 x 10 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, p 52
Blaster, 11 x 17 inches, bitumen and tempera on canvas, p 42
Lord Baskerville’s Pond, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen and tempera on canvas, p 19
Calliope, 36 x 80 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, p 38
Mao As Panda, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen on panel, p 29
City Lights, 60 x 60 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, p 24
Marilyn, 40 x 36 inches, bitumen on panel, p 29
City Lights #2, 60 x 60 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, p 25
Monocle, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen and tempera, on canvas (inside cover)
Cypress Topiary, 14 x 20 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, p 50
Mt Lee, 96 x 120 inches, bitumen on panel, p 26
Death and the Maiden, 61.5 x 73.75 inches, bitumen on panel, p 33
Navigating a Starless Night, 13.5 x 31.5 inches, bitumen on canvas, pp 6-7
Der Mill at Twilight, 11 x 26 inches, bitumen on panel, pp 14-15
Noah’s Ark, 74 x 41 x 18 inches, carved polychromed cedar, p 45
Der Owl, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen on canvas, p 10
Our Ancestral Home, 30 x 38 inches, bitumen on panel, p 22
Desert Nachtern, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen and tempera on canvas, p 42
Paradise Landscape #1, 36 x 36 inches, bitumen on panel, p 56
Disintegrator, 11 x 17 inches, bitumen on canvas, p 43
Paradise Landscape #2, 36 x 36 inches, bitumen on panel, p 56
Drive-by Tin Man, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen on canvas, p 28
Paradise Triptych, 25.5 x 101 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, pp 48-49
Eternal Slumber, 10 x 14 inches, bitumen on panel, p 12
Ponter’s Hall, 34 x 60 inches, bitumen on panel, p 17
Gothic Ruin at Fourentoe River, 36 x 24 inches, bitumen on panel, p 16
Reflection Pool, 14 x 18 inches, bitumen on panel, p 53
Guido, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen on canvas, p 29
Sending Signals, 60 x 48 inches, bitumen on panel, p 27
Hauling Ass, 18 x 30 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, p 4
So Shines a Good Deed in a Weary World, 13 x 22 inches, bitumen and tempera
High Grove, 14 x 20 inches, bitumen on panel, p 50
on panel, p 23
on panel (cover page)
Sofia, 36 x 24 inches, bitumen on panel, p 34 Temperance, 36 x 24 inches, bitumen on panel, p 34 The Dying Sun, 12 x 24 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, p 18 The Golden Sliver, 9.25 x 11.25 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, p 20 The Kid at the Mouth of the Abyss, 15 x 30 inches, bitumen on panel, p 8 The Tethered Beast, 32 x 52 inches, bitumen on panel, p 9 The Troubled Swan, 15 x 30 inches, bitumen on panel, p 11 The Wandering Agnes, 44 x 24 inches, bitumen on panel, p 35 Topiary Landscape, 20 x 16 inches, bitumen on panel, p 51 Trashed, 24 x 80 inches, bitumen on panel, pp 30-31 Tributary, 30 x 40 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel, p 21 Trophy Skull, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen on panel, p 36 White Lilies, A Still Life, 24 x 36 inches, bitumen on canvas, p 7 Windless Day, 23 inch tondo, bitumen on panel, p 13 With the Arrival of the Red Balloons, their Philistine Nature and their Obvious Disregard for his Warnings to Adjourn, Serpent Decides to do Something Rash, 33 x 63 inches, bitumen and
tempera on panel, p 44
11:11, 48 x 48 inches, bitumen on canvas (inside back cover)
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This page, left to right:
Paradise Landscape #1, 36 x 36 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel Paradise Landscape #2, 36 x 36 inches, bitumen and tempera on panel
m a nsion pr ess