Saturday, November 6, 2010

artistsketchbooks.com

A new resource for artist's books: artistsketchbooks.com/KentWilliams

Saturday, October 9, 2010

EKLEKTIKOS Review

Blond Natalia in Studio Arrangement
2010, oil on linen, 44×48 in., 112×122 cm.


 Whether or not they actively subsume sexuality under the weight of calculated conceptual concerns, the formats of many media favored by contemporary artists tend towards disrupting acts of voyeurism. British artist Sarah Lucas’s jury-rigged assemblages investigate its seedy socio-economic complexities. A.K. Burns and A.L. Steiner’s collaborative, performance-driven videos reformulate the paradigms of its mediation to emphasize its role in community formation. Defused by the enforced deadpan of their documentary sensibilities, it never rises to the glossy surfaces of Mona Kuhn’s at once bared and barren photographs.

By contrast, Kent Williams’ current paintings and drawings derive much of their potency from exemplifying figurative painting’s alluring tactility and coincidental ties to the long history of eroticized representation. Though tempered by comparison, the artist’s stylistic extravagance – manifest in expressionistically smeared, splattered, and abraded paint handling – calls to mind Cecily Brown’s fluent foregrounding of oil’s in-the-flesh immediacy and the cunning ease with which obfuscatory gestures can suggest sexual frisson.

Perhaps the show’s cynosure, “Blonde Natalia in Studio Arrangement”revels in the risqué, if also knowingly retardataire, associations of studio practice. Rendered in a flurry of writhing strokes of oil on linen, its physically idealized (i.e., sexually objectified) male and female models writhe in independent ecstasies against a backdrop of paint cans and orange extension cables – the latter an explicit reminder of the erotic currents snaking through the composition’s literal and figurative middle ground. Indulgent, irresponsible, and wickedly immediate, the painting – suitably representative of the majority of works on view – largely ignores the continuing crisis of representation. Williams’ willful indifference to such intellectual conceits serves to make it sexier.

Alex Ross, Visual Art Source, Oct 2010, Kent Williams at Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Pre-Opening Install Shots

Here are a few installation shots pre-opening. Will post more of exhibition and of opening later. See preview of exhibition online at kentwilliams.com

KENT WILLIAMS: EKLEKTIKOS
A Solo Exhibition of New Paintings and Drawings
September 2 – 30, 2010 | Opening reception Thursday, September 2, 6 – 8 pm

EVOKE Contemporary
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite F
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
505.995.9902

Email: info@evokecontemporary.com

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Next Stop, Santa Fe

Studio Arrangement in Blue and Rose 
2010, oil on linen, 54 x 50 in., 137 x 127 cm.

See preview of exhibition online at kentwilliams.com

KENT WILLIAMS: EKLEKTIKOS
A Solo Exhibition of New Paintings and Drawings
September 2 – 30, 2010 | Opening reception Thursday, September 2, 6 – 8 pm

EVOKE Contemporary
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite F
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
505.995.9902

Email: info@evokecontemporary.com

Thursday, August 12, 2010

KENT WILLIAMS: EKLEKTIKOS

Ukiyo, 2010, oil on linen, 54 x 50 in., 137 x 127 cm.

KENT WILLIAMS: EKLEKTIKOS
A Solo Exhibition of New Paintings and Drawings
September 2 – 30, 2010 | Opening reception Thursday, September 2, 6 – 8 pm

EVOKE Contemporary
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite F
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
505.995.9902

Email: info@evokecontemporary.com

Sunday, July 18, 2010

THE SILK BOOK

Kent Williams: The Silk Book is an over-sized 17 x 17 inch handcrafted artist edition which includes 20 giclée plates, and one original drawing executed especially for each volume. The drawing and the plates are hand-bound in each beautifully crafted book by means of Japanese stab binding, and features mulberry endpapers and covered by Japanese silk and debossed. Each volume is individually proofed by the artist and comes signed, numbered and stamped with the artist's personal hanko signature seal and embossed stamp. Very limited to an edition of 10. $2500 SOLD OUT

The book can also be ordered directly from the Kent Williams Studio Store, but it's very important that you contact us first for availability of the edition(s) you may be interested in.

Below are images of the book and the 10 original drawings.























































  ^ Silk Book Drawing 10/10
























^ Silk Book Drawing 9/10




















^ Silk Book Drawing 8/10





















^ Silk Book Drawing 7/10
























^ Silk Book Drawing 6/10
























^ Silk Book Drawing 5/10
























^ Silk Book Drawing 4/10
























^ Silk Book Drawing 3/10
























^ Silk Book Drawing 2/10























^ Silk Book Drawing 1/10

Monday, July 12, 2010

New Limited Edition Prints
















Two newer paintings, 1962 and Blonde Natalia in Studio Arrangement have been produced as limited edition prints. Both prints are currently available from the Kent Williams Online Store.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

RE-PRESENTING THE NUDE























Blond Natalia, Paint Can, and Orange Electric Cord
2010, oil on linen, 14×14 in., 36×36 cm.


Group Exhibition curated by John O’Hern
July 2–30, 2010 | Opening reception Friday evening 5 – 8 pm
Private view on Thursday, July 1 | By invitation only

EVOKE Contemporary
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite F
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
505.995.9902

Email: ke@evokecontemporary.com

Thursday, June 10, 2010

A Number of Upcoming Shows





















Blond Natalia in Studio Arrangement
2010, oil on linen, 44×48 in., 112×122 cm.

 
RE-PRESENTING THE NUDE
Group Exhibition curated by John O’Hern
July 2–30, 2010 | Opening reception Friday evening 5 – 8 pm
Private view on Thursday, July 1 | By invitation only

KENT WILLIAMS: EKLEKTIKOS
Solo Exhibition of New Paintings and Drawings
Sept 3–30, 2010 | Opening reception Friday evening 5 – 8 pm
Private view on Thursday, Sept 2 | By invitation only

EVOKE Contemporary
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite F
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
505.995.9902

Email: ke@evokecontemporary.com














  As Icarus, 2008, mixed media, 37×74 in., 94×188 cm.

101/EXHIBIT GROUP SHOW
June 12th – July 31, 2010
Exhibition includes the paintings As Icarus and River

101/exhibit
101 NE 40th Street
Miami, Florida 33137
305.573.2101

Email: info@101exhibit.com


















Blond Natalia in Studio Arrangement (Study)
2010, pencil and gouache on paper, 14×17 in., 36×43 cm.


DRAW: MEXICO CITY
Contemporary Drawing Group Exhibition
June 19 – August 15, 2010

DRAW is the largest contemporary drawing exhibition to emerge out of New York City, and features original drawings by more than 350 artists. DRAW will have it’s museum debut at Museo de la Ciudad de México, one of Mexico City’s finest museums. To coincide with the exhibition, the museum will be publishing a book for distribution to contemporary museum bookstores around the world. Carlo McCormick, art writer and curator in the U.S. will be writing an introductory essay for the book. The exhibition is curated by Erik Foss and Curse Mackey. Special Guest Curator for Mexico is Miguel Calderon Museum, Director: Cristina Faesler.

Museo de la Ciudad de México
Pino Suárez 30
Centro Histórico
CP 06060

























Heart
2010, mixed media on wood panel, 20 x 16 in., 41 x 51 cm.


SURVEY SELECT: Narrative Art Exhibition 
Curated by Mark Murphy
July 15 – Sept 5, 2010
Private opening Thursday, July 15, 6 pm – 11 pm

Celebrating 65 internationally renowned artists, “Survey Select” elevates the narrative tradition of storytelling with original art works, critical writings, workshops, films and community events. Through a unified presentation of painting, drawing, collage and sculpture the public can experience a 8 week museum show for free six days a week from July 15 through September 5 in downtown San Diego.

The exhibition, events and workshops will take place at the Wonder Bread Factory, a 4,000-foot space transformed into a museum located at 1440 Imperial Avenue (14th St. and Imperial). The exhibition will open to the public Friday, July 16, preceded by a private opening Thursday, July 15. Exhibition dates July 15 though September 15, closed on Monday of each week and featuring weekly events.

Wonder Bread Factory
1440 Imperial Avenue (14th & Imperial)
San Diego, CA
Museum Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10 am – 5 pm

Email: murphy@murphydesign.com

Press Release

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Hybrid Project





































The HYBRID PROJECT is a collaborative partnership between selected local artists and Peter Liashkov. Each participant is invited to select one of Peter’s life size silhouettes, drawn or painted on synskin (a translucent fiberglass paper) and then rework it in his/her own manner. The reworking can take the form of painting, drawing, printing, projection or sculpture.

The first exhibition of these works was held at Blackgate Space in Silverlake, CA in the spring of 2009. In May of 2010 there will be a second exhibition of the Hybrid Project at the Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park, CA. Kent Williams, Oksana Badrak, Craig Havens, Richard Houston, Nancy Kyes, Rebeca Mendez, Ramon Munoz, Miguel Angel Murillo, Trevor Norris, Pierre Picot, Francesco Siquieiros, J. Michael Walker, Ruth Weisberg, Ingrid Sydow, Pen Tsou, Poli Marishal, Marianne Sadowski and Carlos Flores have agreed to collaborate in this exhibition.

Opening Night Reception: Saturday, May 8, 2010 from 7–10 pm
Exhibition runs May 8–June 6, 2010

Avenue 50 Studio 
131 N. Avenue 50
Highland Park
323.258.1435

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Bristol's City Museum
















Posters for the ART FROM THE NEW WORLD exhibition have gone up in the vitrines outside the museum.

ART FROM THE NEW WORLD: Group Exhibition | May 15 – August 22
Private Opening Reception: Friday, May 14, 6:30 - 10:30pm
Opens to public Saturday, May 1st and will be on view 7 days a week until the close of the show.
Queen's Road, Bristol, BS8 1RL, UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 922 3571

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Silk Book Drawing




















 
Silk Book Drawing (7), 2010, pencil and gouache on paper, 17 x 17 in.,  43 x 43 cm.

A new drawing that's part of a forthcoming very limited hand-bound book. An original drawing will be sewn into each volume. More details about the edition and availability coming soon.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Recommended Exhibition: Jennifer Poon

 
Sleep, Watercolor, Gouache, on Cut Paper

April 17 to May 15, 2010
Opening Reception with the artist: Sat, April 17, 6–8 pm

513 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001
Telephone: (212) 929-5949
Fax: (212) 255-4699

Thursday, April 1, 2010

New Website


www.kentwilliams.com
My new website is live. I still need to add more images and make a few tweaks, but mostly it's good to go. Under options, you can choose full screen for large HD images, and share with your social networking favorites (and please do so, if you're so inclined.)

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Year of the Tiger

1962, 2010, oil on linen, 62 x 56 in., 157 x 142 cm.

Just finished my painting for an upcoming Bristol, UK group exhibition. This image was conceived back in January and is not only in celebration of the Chinese Year of the Tiger and my birthday, but also in acknowledgment (or a reminder to myself maybe) of the positive attitude or feeling I had going into 2010. I know it's not necessarily an uplifting looking image, but it is, I hope, a viscerally charged representation of the human need for vitality in life (which is not always gotten freely or without scars).

ART FROM THE NEW WORLD: Group Exhibition | May 15 – August 22
Private Opening Reception: Friday, May 14, 6:30 - 10:30pm
Opens to public Saturday, May 1st and will be on view 7 days a week until the close of the show.
Queen's Road, Bristol, BS8 1RL, UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 922 3571

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Facebook Fan Page


Photo by Greg Preston
Even though it seems a bit redundant (already having my personal Facebook page, and a Facebook group page created and administered by Ahmet Daglilar), I went ahead and created an official Facebook fan page as well. From here on out I'll start posting any and all art and exhibition related items here. If you're so inclined, please join at Facebook.com/KentWilliams

Monday, March 1, 2010

Soldier of Peace


Soldier of Peace, 2009, oil and mixed media on paper mounted on wood panel, 24 x 24 in., 61 x 61 cm.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

New Painting


Chloe & Griffin, 2010, oil linen, 44 x 50 in., 112 x 127 cm.
To see studies for the painting go to @random.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Book Signing


I'll be doing a book signing along with Barron Storey Feb 13, 3-5 pm at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra. Books, catalogues and prints will be available in the bookshop. For info and directions go to http://www.gallerynucleus.com