NAKED JULY: "Looker" by Wendy Willis

Image posted with the permission of the artist. Wendy Willis maintains a frequently updated blog found here.

I wrote about two other linocuts of women in water by Willis last year. I'm happy to revisit the subject as well as the subtle mysteriousness I find in her imagery.

The depiction of both moving water and naked bodies in color relief print is an interesting challenge. The picture plane is essentially broken into a mosaic of lyrical shapes. Cracks, globs, and wiggly slits describe a voluptuous body immersed in water, distorted by refraction. The water seems like something alive itself, or at least populated by living beings, some of which scatter and others which eagerly swim up to investigate a large and warm body passing through their territory.

I'm not sure what to make of the windows. They strike me as decorative, antiquated, and far off, almost like drawings displayed in a museum or illustrations found in a book about art or architectural design. It is a stark juxtaposition; such still and specific, unusable windows, beside an anonymous woman, so full of life, swiftly swimming, naked and unencumbered.

Willis created this print for the Naughty, Taboo, Just Plain Wrong print exchange, which makes me smile. When I first saw this image I thought of the swimmer as enjoying a peaceful swim in solitude. I figured she is naked because she enjoys the feel of it or forgot her bathing suit, opposed to anything risqué. I think skinny dipping falls more into the category of naughty than taboo or just plain wrong. Everything about this scene feels right to me!

On her blog, Willis writes:

 I've named the print, Looker,  meant to reflect not just the beauty of the swimmer but also about how your view of nudity can depend on where you stand, through which window you see it.

One of the gifts of art appreciation is that it cultivates a more discerning eye, a way of seeing that uncovers endless layers and types of beauty by which to be enthralled. Such vision yields a sense of wonder and fulfillment that costs the beholder nothing. Beauty is everywhere if we can only recognize it.

Images of Women in Water by Wendy Willis

Images posted with the permission of the artist. Learn more about her work on her blog Wendy Willis Printmaking.

With summer now fully upon us and temperatures rising, I found myself looking at these wonderful linocuts, mostly of aquatic life and people in or around swimming pools, by Wendy Willis. Willis's imagery is usually mundane in the literal subject matter (although she does occasionally delve into the surreal, such as with Honu Heart II which combines a human with a sea turtle), and yet through her use of color and how she depicts the ripples and underwater distortions, the final image appears otherworldly and full of mysterious, dramatic tension.

In Out of the Depths (above) a large woman wades with purpose toward something outside of the frame. Of course I first imagined her simply moving toward the edge of a pool to climb out (I can even see what appears to be a glimpse of side-wall tile in the top left corner), but something gives me pause and then leads me far beyond that interpretation. Because the image has been broken down to just these four colors, the woman seems more enveloped by the water. The shadow on her back extends beyond her body, then seems to break into a second long piece that drags behind her like a train. Her bottom half is entirely invisible, which is all the more jarring given the weighty volume of her arms and upper torso. The water itself seems ominous and volatile. Wild loops of white electrify the space where her legs would be. The grey keeps quiet so that the pinks can tickle and tease, and the dark greenish-blacks can screech like bats in a cave. Yes, there is the predictable push and pull of the waters' movements, but there is also a shattering of surface and light, and I cannot help but hear buzzing and zapping sounds. I am reminded to keep electrical appliances away from the bath tub.

Waterbug (left) depicts a similar subject, and yet conveys an entirely different mood. Here the woman is either completely under water or just her goggles, forehead, and the top of her head have emerged. While the goggles certainly emphasize an alien feel, it is really, again, the colors that pull the viewer into that realm. The vivid red-orange and cheery violet that make up her elongated form compliment each other like the palette of a tropical water lily. This image, like summer, is both hot and cool. The heat from the sun broken by a quick dip in the pool. This swimmer has left the warm, dessert brown behind, and is breaking from the green into the most refreshing and crystal clear blue. Unlike in Out of the Depths, here the woman is totally separate from the waters she swims in. She is a fire-colored aquatic angel darting through an aqua-blue abyss.