Michael Wilkinson's Fluorochiaroscuro Debuts at P·P·O·W with Fluorescent Still Lifes

P·P·O·W gallery at 392 Broadway in New York presents Michael Wilkinson's solo exhibition Fluorochiaroscuro from September 9 to October 24, 2026. The show features twelve paintings created over a year, all using fluorescent acrylic paint on Belgian linen. Wilkinson, born in 1965 in Liverpool and now based in Glasgow, turned to nature as his primary subject after the COVID pandemic, aiming to use fluorescent paint to enhance baths of light and make still lifes more vibrant. One room displays four canvases representing the seasons, with spring—his favorite—depicted through cherry blossoms flooding Glasgow. The second room holds still lifes, where his watercolorist background informs a light-handed technique; he paints over shadows within the linen threads layer by layer, leaving some areas as bare Belgian linen. Photography helps him capture light and shadows before they change. The Delphinium series exemplifies his themes of light, time, and reality: three paintings of the same bouquet show shifting shadows and brightness as a cloud passes, with Delphinium II appearing heavier. Wilkinson describes still life flowers as 'suspended animation,' noting the French term nature morte, and contrasts them with trees as living things. He plans to move toward painting trees and en plein air next.