Willow Wells

Biography

Willow Wells (FL), born in New England, was deeply influenced by old cemeteries and folklore, leading her to become an artist exploring allegorical symbolism. Her interest in the feminine representation of the grotesque has driven her work, which seeks to entangle the human body and nature into a singular form. Wells earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts at the University of South Florida. Using oil paint and printmaking, her work draws from body horror to explore the metamorphosis narrative, resulting in figures that blend seamlessly with plants. Wells’ paintings shift from cool natural colors to vibrant reds and mixed black over a warm underpainting, while brushwork and reductive techniques blur boundaries between figure and landscape. Through these processes, she addresses metamorphosis as a tool to express things beyond verbal explanation, exposing exterior and interior conflicts to further the conversation around the fluidity of gender, sex, and the constriction of binaries in visual culture and art history.