Lee Nowell-Wilson
Cat, Dog, Bear, Frog
Wax pastel on paper
2023
Lee Nowell-Wilson is an American figurative artist currently living and working in Baltimore, MD. Within her work, she explores and documents the humorous, overloaded, holy and tender aspects of daily family life. Her paintings and works on paper, while being autobiographical, offer references to art history and religious compositions while examining how her contemporary storyline relates to historical images. Taking much inspiration from the Intimism Art Movement of the 19th century, Nowell-Wilson’s work examines the mundane, the divine and the sacrifice of novelty through the depiction of seemingly banal domestic scenes.
She asks herself, “while I sit privately relegated to the floor as a parent, to play house or pretend picnic, pour fake tea and eat fake biscuits, how can this humdrum aspect of family rhythm – the monotony of mothering – transfer into nostalgic, relatable and intimate points of wisdom? ” Nowell-Wilson’s work also approaches and investigates a tipping point — the line where the maternalistic state of being tips from something sensitive to aggressive, from a tearing tension to close connection. This comes through by drawing objects in abundance, such as an overloaded pile of legos, a sweeping rug pattern or exaggerated light, all in the attempt to push the limitations of composition, material and conceptual revelation.
