Disappearing Woman Book by Author Marques Vickers

“The Disappearing Women” is a visual exhibition of California artist and writer Marques Vickers figurative paintings and sculptures created between 1998-2014. Over 75 artworks are showcased along with four short stories authored by Vickers.

The four short stories address the complexities of sustaining relationships and chronicle narratives involving women who have disappeared from the author’s life. As Vickers notes in his preface “Love may simply be a four-letter word but relationships require more syllables and certainly greater complexity.” The works include “Forgotten” about his encounter with a former lover undergoing cancer treatment four years after their last parting. “The Long Slow Goodbye” narrates a doomed coupling with a fellow writer, which lingers and plods over a 12-month period before finally extinguishing. “The Rebound” chronicles a painful relationship that begins promisingly yet never sustains traction. “The Dreamed Woman” is a poetic recollection of impressions that never ultimately materialize.

His 75+ displayed Figurative works are stressed by the artist in his preface as being “constructed and influenced by a convergence of introspection and sensuality. Each are stimulated and interpreted by an internal dialogue and fabricated into a formal presentation. They are likely to defy immediate interpretation. They are neither instantaneously digestible nor approachable. Their appreciation requires time and contemplation.”

“The Disappearing Women” is an introspective analysis of relationships and their failings but an acknowledgement that impressions and observations require time and detachment to evaluate their true significance and impact. Women, both real and imagined have strongly impacted the artist’s work and remain a constant source of inspiration and interpretation.

Excerpt From the Short Story Opening of “The Dreamed Woman”:

The Dreamed Woman invaded my consciousness from a dimension I did not anticipate. The preceding week had prepared me for her entrance but I had not recognized the forewarning. Her gaze, the tilt of her profile, the delicacy of her skin undermined my own preconceptions of how she might appear.

She related her dreams and intimate imagery. These became windows and echoes of my own thoughts. In dreams, we are not bound by chronology. We are not condemned to convention.

My conversations with the Dreamed Woman were neither ordinary nor conventional. The strands of our exchanges wove textiles of golden thread liberated from time and geography. She spoke of Canton, Saxony and now of adventures from within her heart. But these remain trivial details. These remain background for gauzy reflection. These are unanswerable compass points defying orientation.

The Dreamed Woman spoke of impressions stenciled erratically from her past. She left each random piece to interpretation. She was attempting to fit each into an indefinable puzzle to create a sense of her own destiny and place amongst the labyrinth of time.

My Dreamed Woman vanished into the fogs of a single evening, oblivious to promises offered and vows kept. She promised a return one day but only if it is willed. And will she return?

I will such reappearance but my finite imagination is incapable of inciting her return. I may only attempt to interpret her words, imagery and dreams. These speculations may answer little as to why we were destined to meet.

These conjectures may resolve nothing. My response may remain hidden, mute and lain ashore.

There is risk involved in dreams and their subjugation by language. Words remain inferior to imagery. She entered my imagination through an exposure I was unaware that I had revealed. I was unprepared.

I am no longer.