Michael Williams

Michael Williams’ unapologetically dense paintings and drawings are a combination of comic book psychedelia and torrid, spontaneous fun. His inkjet prints, composed on a tablet then printed on canvas and stretched, are pared-down but no less bizarre. Incorporating patterns, gestural marks and a surreal cast of characters, Williams’ imagined scenes feature naked figures or clothed piglets emerging out of frenzied canvas space. The artist most often uses acrylic paint and an airbrush, providing an incessant fluctuation in depth and detail. He strives to discover what might happen when a viewer is forced to consider a piece of work beyond a cursory glance—forcing his audience to look deeper.

Williams was featured in Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World at MoMA in 2014. He has also shown at the Wexner Center of the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, and the Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, Kansas, among others. He was awarded residencies by the Moore Space in Miami in 2007 and by the Danish Arts Council in 2009.