On The DL

Kimberly Willcox: Story Poles

by Tami Fertig

Runs Sept. 1-30, Langman Gallery, 2500 Moreland Road, Willow Grove Park, Willow Grove, 215-657-8333, www.langmangallery.com

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Modeled after primitive forms, Kimberly Willcox's mixed-media sculptures look kinda like miniature totem poles. Little bronze faces, sometimes topped with Mohawk-like hairdos, sit atop long, impossibly skinny legs. Each figure, carefully crafted from weathered wood and found objects, seems to tell a different story with its often-curious body parts. Deciphering the exact storyline, however, is not always easy.

While some pieces speak for themselves (the blindfolded figure with a balance sprouting from her head no doubt represents Lady Justice; the holes in the winged creature with a cross balanced on its head seem to indicate a Christ figure), others seem less obvious. Why is one rather large-headed fellow with a massive ponytail straddling a duck? Why the small nails poking out of another solemn-looking man-pole?

Making no two of them alike, the Florida-based artist primarily uses discarded metals, fiber, bone, wood, clay and tools: Perhaps just as mysterious as the finished products, these unwanted materials, too, contain untold stories of their own.