Thursday, November 10, 2022

Artist of the Day, November 10, 2022: David Williams, an American painter (#1696)

David  Williams
One of the most outstanding and — to some critics — infuriating features of art in the post-modern era is the appropriation of already existing images. To many it seems like cheating, somehow.

Some artists reject the notion of creating new images, why should we when we already live in a world of cluttered images.  Images bombard us from every direction, from magazines, television, advertising and cyberspace. I choose to take already existing images and turn then back on themselves, using them for purposes for which they were not intended.

 When you see an image reused by an artist this way, you may never feel quite the same about it. Andy Warhol, Jean-Michael Basquiat and David Salle are painters whose names come to mind when I think of reusing images, combining them and juxtaposing them in order to tell a different story than they originally told.

I use remembered images from rainy day hours as a child in the 70's sketching from old magazines at my grandfather’s summer farm in eastern Kentucky — Popular Mechanics, Woman's Day — whatever had been kept and stored away. Images from my travels abroad. The paintings and monoprints I produce tell stories of men and women and how they view themselves and each other. They are images of sex and power, or the lack of sex and power, manipulation and frustration. I use multiple images as well as multiple painting styles in each work, layering image on top of image. Bringing forth disturbing messages from within our culture — and our hearts.


© 2022. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by David Williams (PainterWilliams) or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only

Like Magic, 1996
Hide, 2012
 Seek, 2012
 Fresh, 2013
 Navigational Hazard, 2013
It Seemed Important at the Time, 2014
 The Distant Sound of Thunder, 2014
It's a Woman's World, 2015
Williams
Homeland, 2015
Mustang Sally, 2015
That Dog'll Hunt, 2015
It's Always Greenier, 2016
It's Easy, 2016
Sit, Stay, 2016
 Thrills Action, 2016
Tourist Season I, 2016
Hidin in the Brush, 2017
Atta Boy, 2019
Fabulous, 2019
I Like What I Like, 2019
 I Wonder if the Bar is Open, 2019
Old Snowmass, 2019
Happy Shining People, 2020
Into the Light of a Brand New Day, 2020
Love the Snow, 2020
Out of the Garden and Into the Light, 2020
Passive-Aggressive, 2020
Time to Take The Blinders Off, 2020
Field Guide Vol. 2, 2021
Field Guide Vol. 1, 2021

 

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