ARTS

Stroke of mystery

Aaron Wilcox's ceramics exhibit 'Swimmers' is a work of fiction, but also a work of history

Justin Lacy StarNews correspondent

Forty-two stoneware heads line the southeastern wall of the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Cultural Arts Building Gallery, each one of them wearing a shiny black swim cap.

According to the 39-page chapbook near the entrance of the gallery, these heads are monuments to the 42 swimmers of the Qin Dynasty, discovered by Thomas George in the 1930s along the banks of China's Wei River. Historians now believe these swimmers helped Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, conquer the warring states and thus, played a crucial role in uniting China.

Every aspect of George's discovery of the swimmers and their theorized place in history is laid out in painstaking detail in the chapbook. There's a bit of a twist, however, on the book's final page, in the form of a footnote:

"This is a work of fiction. Sort of."

"Swimmers" — UNCW professor and ceramicist Aaron Wilcox's solo exhibition of swim-capped ceramic heads accompanied by their meticulously detailed backstory — is also a work of history. Sort of. "Swimmers" went on display last month as part of the Lumina Festival of the Arts and remains on display through Aug. 24.

Wilcox took great care molding these fictional figures into the history of ancient China. Everything proposed about China, its geography, architecture, history, archeology and mythology, is accurate. The swimmers and archeologist Thomas George are the only works of fiction.

"China's history is such a rich history,” Wilcox said. “It's so important to not only people from China but to everyone, so I didn't want to take advantage of that at all. I was really careful about that throughout my whole process, making sure my research was correct."

Why would an artist spend all that time crafting a historically accurate story of fiction to accompany an art show? Well, for one, it's fun. Wilcox spent about 20 minutes telling me the story. From the get-go, I'm struggling to discern which aspects are fictional and historical, but one thing is clear: Wilcox enjoys his new role of bait-and-switch storyteller.

"I can see people as they're listening to it start out going, 'No way this is ridiculous,'” Wilcox said. “But then after the details kind of pile up you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I didn't know that much about Chinese history.’"

Backstroke back story

For Wilcox, this project didn't begin anywhere close to China. It all started with his grandmother's swim cap. Wilcox was thinking about the personal significance of his grandmother's old floral swim cap and his son's new swim cap. On a whim, he decided to try sculpting a swim-capped figure.

"I've never done anything figurative," Wilcox said. "In 30 years of doing ceramics, it's always been pots or abstract. So I needed to learn whatever it is I learned."

Wilcox's early prototypes reminded him of the warriors of the Terracotta Army — the famous trove of more than 8,000 life-size terracotta figures depicting the soldiers, chariots and horses of the armies of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, discovered by archeologists in 1974.

"I've always been fascinated by the Qin terracotta warriors," Wilcox said. "They're like the pinnacle of ceramics. No one's ever gonna match that."

Wilcox joked that he was creating his own Qin terracotta swimmers, and the joke became reality. Wilcox continued sculpting swim-capped heads, even building several larger-than-life figures also on display in "Swimmers." These giant forms were ultimately a detour, but a useful one. Wilcox realized he really wanted to keep his craniums on a human scale.

"I'm never gonna make a head this big again," Wilcox said of his final giant head sculpture on display in the CAB Gallery. "It's too hard to move. It's really awkward. I wanted to make life-size heads."

So, Wilcox sculptured a life-size stoneware subject. And then another. And another, and another, learning what worked and what didn't as he went. It took Wilcox 10 or 20 heads to develop the final look of his swimmers: stoneware faces with piercing, deep-set eyes, large noses with accentuated nostrils, recessed chins and an extra fold along the eye —all capped with glossy, black enamel swim caps meant to imitate the appearance of black, wrought-iron railings.

Willcox is a big proponent of repetition in the creative process.

"To an extreme," Wilcox said. "It's always to an extreme."

Narrative departure

Before Wilcox began creating meticulously chapbook-detailed exhibitions of ceramic swimmers, he focused on an ongoing series featuring abstract mounds of clay tiles unconventionally and unabashedly stripped together with zip-ties. Wilcox said he's created thousands of these little mounds.

"(My process) kind of borders (on) obsessiveness or almost ridiculousness. I just keep going and going," Wilcox said. "Art-making is relentless because you never get a break, you never get to stop thinking about it, and then when you get into this rhythm of thinking, it's very hard to break it."

Somewhat luckily for Wilcox, he knew the space limitations of the CAB Gallery. After taking measurements, Wilcox decided 42 was the right number, mostly, well, just because it felt right.

"It's just an awesome number," Wilcox said.

As the swimmers developed physically, so did their narrative. Wilcox found them a spot in history and built upon their legend, giving them superhuman capabilities to swim great distances and depths.

"These were going to be almost supernatural beings,” Wilcox said. “They didn't need to look too exactly like humans."

As the head tally grew, Wilcox's story became more elaborate. He began researching Chinese history and consulting with a Chinese history professor at UNCW. Wilcox eventually realized an artist statement wouldn’t cut it. This narrative needed to be presented as long-form literature.

"The 42 heads, they're not supposed to exist without the story," Wilcox said. "They're completely intertwined."

For Wilcox, the process of creating work with such an intricate narrative was a big departure.

"It's a complete change," Wilcox said. "I don't know what my reluctance was to having a narrative before. I was in this kind of formalist abstract realm and I thought that was what was really important, but this was exciting. It was exciting to develop everything behind it as well as the work."

As is his repetitious nature, Wilcox plans on exploring his hybrid of storytelling-ceramics again. He’s already planning his next narrative-based project, undoubtedly taking steps to bait viewers once again with his fascinating but believable, fictionalized take on history.

Of course, there is one (literally) glaring plot hole in this whole ancient Chinese swimmers story: those shiny swim caps. Rubber and latex swim caps weren't around till the early 20th century, long after Emperor Qin Shi Huang conquered China.

Contact StarNews arts and entertainment at 910-343-2343.

Want to go?

What: “Swimmers,” a chapbook story and sculpture exhibition by UNCW art professor Aaron Wilcox

When: Gallery hours are noon-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday. The exhibition is on display through Aug. 24.

Where: Cultural Arts Building Gallery, located on the corner of Randall and Reynolds drives, UNCW campus

Details: UNCW.edu/Art