Dreams of princesses trapped in magic towers awaiting imminent rescue, dense forests with colourful blooms rather than squishy mushrooms underfoot. Youthful vanity tables with pastel coloured plastic containers, puppy love's posies pressed alive for memory's sake. The fantasy and reality of youth comes to mind when viewing this exhibition, complete with that sinister presence lurking somewhere in the picture.
Wilson-Foster has employed childhood wishes and hopes as inspiration for these exhibits and despite their 'storybook' quality, they speak volumes about the seriously mature talent of their author.
Around the walls large cages made from bird wire over weld-mesh support colourful plastic flowers. The weld-mesh creates a grid format suggesting a formal structure, like the universalities that hold the same truths in myths from diverse cultures. Meanwhile the decorative flowers represent the lyrical vernacular that tells different stories to each viewer. So Entrapment, with its red rose caught in the cage door, could be a tale of near escape and She Loves to Swing, where a delicate pink bloom ignores the open door, encourages thoughts on our fear of freedom.
Other exhibits involve partially melted plastic blooms pressed into a box shape or within a box frame. Again the imagination jumps between positive and negative interpretations. Is the series Silence of Memory about how we are pressed into conformity by society's rigid parameters, and does Nature's Silence refer to how we only decorate ourselves in accepted social conventions while retaining our own true colours? You figure it out for yourself.
As we ponder these mysteries of art, society, fantasy, the artist's talent and our own interpretations of it all, Remanence lll looms over us. This huge spiral, composed of crunched up plastic shopping bags in soft grey and blue hues, twists down from the ceiling to weave its way toward the delicate cages of colour. To some it may play the part of the serpent in Eden, while others may see it as rendered impotent so paradise won't be lost.
See the exhibition, find your own wishful interpretations of these splendid
exhibits as they please the eye and activate the mind.