Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas
16 x 20 inches
Mounted in a vintage frame and gifted to our best friends for their home:
Tag: Abstract art
I Was Once a Good Little Boy (2017)
Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas
28 x 22 inches
An automatic drawing that revealed itself as a self-portrait with hindsight.
Si! (2017)
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30 inches
SOLD in April 2017 to a private collector in Kansas
Responsive painting inspired by a live performance of Si!, a composition for tuba and live electronics composed by Karlheinz Essl; performed at Cider Gallery in Lawrence, KS on April 25, 2017 by Brett Keating and University of Kansas Prof. Bryan Kip Haaheim (North American Premiere).
This piece was one of seven spontaneously-produced paintings as I listened to Brett perform six separate electro-acoustic music compositions for trombone, euphonium and live electronics.
Here’s a video of Essl performing Si! in Innsbruck, Austria on November 29, 2015:
Wind Shadows (2017)
Gesso on canvas
24 x 30 inches
Responsive painting inspired by a live performance of Wind Shadows, a composition for trombone and closely tuned oscillators composed by Alvin Lucier; performed at Cider Gallery in Lawrence, KS on April 25, 2017 by Brett Keating.
This piece was the first of seven spontaneously-produced paintings as I listened to Brett perform six separate electro-acoustic music compositions for trombone, euphonium and live electronics.
Here’s a recording of the same piece performed by James Fulkerson (trombone) and Alvin Lucier (oscillator):
2017 – Wind Shadows
“Wind Shadows” was a multi-media, contemporary classical performance at Cider Gallery in Lawrence, Kansas, on April 25, 2017.
Composer and performer Brett Keating played an original electro/acoustic euphonium piece along with works by Alvin Lucier, Karleinz Essl, Stijn Govaere, Forrest Pierce, and Gianinto Scelsi. As Keating performed, I spontaneously painted in response to the music and produced a painting for each piece. Using the duration of each piece as the only parameter for each painting, some turned out better than others. The two highlights were the following pieces:
Si!
Responsive painting to a performance of Si!,
a composition for tuba and live electronics composed by Karlheinz Essl.
Wind Shadows
Responsive painting inspired by a live performance of Wind Shadows,
a composition for trombone and closely tuned oscillators composed by Alvin Lucier.
The Way (2016)
House paint on plywood board
24 x 48 inches
I followed the grain and allowed the wood to dictate the composition of this painting as an exercise in wu-wei.
1,102 (2015)
House paint and oil on canvas
30 x 40 inches
Inspired by a photograph I took of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, O’ahu, Hawaii in June, 2014. More than 2.3 quarts of oil percolate to the surface from the battleship every day, serving as a reminder to those who visit that the site is still very active. While it’s obviously not good for the aquatic environment, I find the periodic oil blooms on the surface to be a poignant unintentional feature of the memorial; almost as if the spirits of the 1,102 people that lost their life there are acknowledging the millions of people who pay their respects each year.
Vigil (2015)
Oil and oil pastel on canvas
24 x 28 inches
This piece is an automatic drawing that I randomly colored with oil paint. As the composition of the colored shapes became clearer, I began to see candles and people, which brought to mind an assembly of remembrance.
Synapse (2015)
House paint and ink on canvas
36 x 12 inches
Aviary (2015)
House paint on canvas
24 x 36 inches
Sold in March 2015 to a private collector in Kansas.
Christian Williams 