Window Dressing LVII, Valerie Fowler

October 26, 2026 - November 02, 2026 From ICOSA Collective: "Leakage is an arrangement of artworks and mementos exploring the transient nature of life. The painted three panel screen depicts a forest scene in which a cutaway view of tree roots below the ground is visible. This is one of many paintings in which I’ve depicted what I imagine is a view below the Earth’s surface. My work is increasingly informed by what is not readily visible to the human eye. As always, I’m concerned about our Earth’s limited natural resources and existential vulnerabilities, but I am also, increasingly, fascinated by the idea of conduits that literally weave throughout the Earth’s interior, for instance: water which flows through porous aquifers (and what the water carries); geological seams, developed over millennia that contain precious resources; tunnels built by animals that become their homes; tree roots drilled deep into the land; lacy mycelium networks which facilitate communications between trees and other plant life. And, as I visualize these networks, I am inclined to imagine alternate realities that may or may not co-exist in real time. I think of human messages, thoughts sent to lost loved ones already part of the dust of Earth. This is leakage. The three panel screen is mirrored on its back, depicting an alternate view of the same forest scene, painted in a monochromatic line drawing, as if the view had leaked from one side to the other. Leakage is also the idea that death is a reality that may be porous as well. Perhaps the dead are among us more than we know. Perhaps there are messy and leaky membranes and passageways between life and death, conduits beyond our vision. The other painting is one by Jack Boynton (1928-2010), a contemporary of my father. It’s a painting I grew up with, and although it’s mostly dark it never frightened me as a child. My imagination concentrated on the vibrant pink which to me indicated a life source. I recently inherited the painting…