William T. Williams Explores Abstraction Through Six Decades

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Artist William T. Williams finds constant learning in his studio practice, approaching each painting as if it were a new engagement, he said this past spring. While maintaining an open process, he consistently thinks“two or three steps ahead” to follow“where the paintings are taking me, [then I] just go with that until I've exhausted it.”

Williams and his wife, Pat, have divided their time between Connecticut and New York for the past 15 years. His sun-drenched Connecticut studio, illuminated by windows on three walls for several hours daily, contrasts sharply with his New York studio, which he has maintained since 1968 and intentionally kept free of natural light.“I boarded the windows up in the back, because I wanted to have a certain set light,” he explained.“When we came up here, it was just the opposite. We decided to open the studio up, and that has influenced the paintings because of the angle of light and the geometry that the light brings in the afternoon.” This shift has led to more vertical compositions in his work, sometimes incorporating light passing through the canvas by placing it against a window.

His current abstract paintings feature two-inch vertical bands composed of various colored rectangles, often initially marked with cut-up Post-its to indicate placement rather than color. After laying down a clear underpainting, Williams builds thin layers on different canvas sections, adjusting thickness as he works. He explained,“Each new layer brings another element that I have to orchestrate.” Gaps between layers create the cracked appearance that exposes“the building up of the layers.” Most of these works require at least six months, with some taking years for subtle adjustments, such as slightly changing a blue tone. He uses plastic cups instead of a palette for his various Golden paint mixtures, which are thinned with alcohol to speed drying or with water to reduce sheen.

Central to Williams's work is a dedication to formalism while challenging its conventions. He stated,“I want art that doesn't just sit on the wall. I want it to be as irritable as possible. It's finding a hidden way or system that does that.” He considers how abstraction can convey complex feelings.“There's a twist that happens in terms of: If I'm not going to paint protest paintings, if I'm not going to paint a narrative painting where there's a story, how do I talk about those kinds of feelings that led me to want to do dissonance, or something that's off-kilter?” Color, he noted, is“the most difficult element in painting” for abstract artists, requiring“something that's offbeat, something that's off-key in it to make it work” to achieve poetry or magic.

Recent canvases explore the figure/ground relationship, such as his 2021 work, Jonquil, which features a cracked yellow background, a single yellow band, and a red square about a third of the way down. Williams described his interest in whether the square was“sitting in front of the plane, or sliding in back of that plane, or being a hole in that plane.” He views these newer works, including Sunday Sounds and Double Dreams (both 2026 ), as a continuation of his earlier“Diamond in a Box” series from the late 1960s, which also featured colliding and overlapping geometric forms, though with fewer layers.

Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, commented on Williams's consistent artistic inquiry. She noted,“There is a constant sense where you see him asking and answering questions in the space of the work, and he has done that for decades.” Golden added,“What we then have is the legacy of not only this incredible practice but also the legacy of this incredible person who has been so committed to creating art, creating space, creating meaning.”

Born in Cross Creek, North Carolina, in 1942, Williams moved to Queens, New York, at age four. Until he was about 14, he spent summers in North Carolina. His early interest in drawing was fostered by Tommy Hemans at a community center, who provided materials, and junior high school art teacher Mrs. Ross, who recommended the School of Industrial Art (now the High School of Art and Design). Williams found himself immersed in an artistic environment there. He initially studied advertising production for two years at New York Community College and worked briefly at Billboard Music Week before enrolling at Pratt Institute in 1962. He began in graphic design but switched to painting in his sophomore year. His early assignments in figurative painting were uninspiring and led to“dismal” grades. A turning point came through a class with painter Richard Bové, who Williams credits with his decision to continue painting.

Source: ARTnews

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