Summer Wheat is known for her vibrant paintings, multifaceted sculptures referencing ancient mosaics, and immersive installations, blending historical and contemporary influences ranging from Egyptian pictography and Native American art to European mannerism and modernist painting. Her works play with binaries such as figure and ground, representation and abstraction, portrait and landscape, and fine art and craft. A signature aspect of Wheat’s practice is her use of colour and texture, pushing the boundaries of acrylic paint with ecstatic colour and unexpected details on aluminium mesh screens where human figures often engage with the natural world. In her still-life paintings, Wheat depicts a wide range of figures and archetypes, including female farmers, hunters, beekeepers, bankers, and movie stars. She transcends time and social status, portraying both labour and leisure as paths to healing humanity. Using humour inspired by comic strips, Wheat subverts conventional hierarchical structures and stereotypes, emphasising the shared humanity that connects us all.
