Nikki Woods opens a solo exhibition of her most recent oil paintings on July 19. Conjuring Images includes paintings and pastels inspired by art history, old Hollywood film stills, and whimsical creatures. A collector of images, Woods masterfully weaves her spectral high-femme visions with sensuous oil painting to connect the past and present simultaneously. Her lush, gestural paintings, though playful and riotous, explore complex ideas relating to the practice of painting, magic, feminine interiority, and what is considered “serious” content. 

Woods states, “I use color, gesture and form to communicate a sense of directness and urgency and see painting as a practice of divination or mediumship, outside of time, …like reading a crystal ball—an image emerges from the canvas.”

She is also collaborating with two painters, Bianca Fields and Katy Richards, on a group exhibit titled Dream Gardens which will be hosted within her show at HEDGE. Pulling from the tradition of floral still life painting as prompt, Fields and Richards bring modern era feminism to the mix.