303 Gallery is proud to present Pushing my heels into the dirt, an exhibition of paintings by Charlotte Fox in the gallery’s Project Room.

In a series of new oil paintings, Charlotte Fox stages open-ended narratives that expand on her ongoing interest in the space between desire and repulsion, and intimacy and fantasy. These works blur the line of maladaptive daydreaming and real connection. Layering images from vintage Playboy magazines and amateur product photography, Fox distorts perspective, and blends together colors and forms to create disorienting, dream-like tableaux.

A trio of poodle figurines is disrupted with an overlaid, centered image of a puckered curtain in Bedroom theater (spectators), (2024). Divided into three panels, the fabric’s ruching and folds mirror the cruciferous volume of the figurine’s “fur”, in a stand-off of refinement. Inverted, acidic greens and glowing white shadows lend the porcelain dogs an eerie, unnatural air to contend with their bewildered expressions, denoting a possible flip of reality.

The overhead perspective of Smother / rapture, (2024) observes an intertwined couple in a moment of ecstasy, identities obscured. Rendered in cool, muted tones of red and blue along with their surroundings, the lovers’ limbs multiply, bend, and blend impossibly, fusing bodies, patterned fabric, and striped textures resembling hair or muscle fibers into one. Punctuating the scene, a photograph of the back view of an angel figurine against a neutral background pops up over a bare shoulder, augmenting the view while introducing another voyeur. Fox depicts moments that feel simultaneously rooted in experience and impossible to describe.

Charlotte Fox (b. 1994, New York City) received her BFA in 2016 from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a focus in painting. She has exhibited nationally and internationally in recent years at As It Stands, Los Angeles; Moosey Art Hoxton, London; H.G. Chicago, Chicago; 303 Gallery, New York; Reena Spaulings Fine Art Gallery, New York; Onground Gallery, Seoul; and Hoxton Arches, London; and online with kennyschachter.art. She currently lives and works in New York.