Mouprise.com

The stunning art of Robert Williams

At first glance, the violent and sarcastic universe created by one of the great pointers of independent art and American art in general, Robert Williams, can surprise, excite or disgust the viewer, but when studied more closely, the deeper meaning is discovered.

Youth

Williams, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 2, 1943, grew up in a rather capricious environment because his father and mother were married four times, so he was constantly bounced between his father who lived in Montgomery, Alabama and her mother’s house in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Therefore, the only true companion of his was art, he drew and painted from an early age.

When Robert Williams was twelve years old, this future art genius from Low Brow, flunked ninth grade twice and was expelled from the public school system for habitual truancy and code of conduct violations. His only real interest was to be an artist, and while he doggedly pursued this aspiration, he first became involved in gang activities that resulted in public arrests for drunkenness and getting into fights. Says Williams, “There wasn’t a real bohemian society in Albuqueque for me to follow. There were some people like that hanging around the university who were addicted to drugs and stuff. Obviously I was going to get in a lot of trouble if I stayed in Albuqueque. I was trying to get an arts education.”

THE

Because there were few opportunities in Albuquerque, he left for Los Angeles in 1963. He was drawn to the film industry and the mystical Los Angeles hot rod. Says Williams, “You know, my interest was in pursuing an artistic career and associating myself with this hot rod karma that I had read about for years in car magazines.”

He became an editorial cartoonist for the LACC newspaper, The Collegiate, and lost himself in the theory and technique of art. He also tried to advertise at the prestigious fine arts academy The Chouinard Art Institute, but was rejected for his insistence on mastering technical virtuosity and pictorial representation, so recognizable in his later Low Brow artwork, while they focused on expressionism. abstract. emphasizing unrecognizable images.

Ed “big daddy” Roth

Then, after a series of unsuccessful attempts, the unemployment office manager offered him a job that would completely change his life. This job was on a ‘freak’ named Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Williams knew his name and reputation and later said, “I was told the monster that was running it was a guy named Big Daddy and I said, ‘Wait a minute, would that be Ed Roth?’ They said yes, and I said, ‘Let me do it. I was born for this job.’

In Ed Roth’s workshop, cars were created freestyle, and he made it faster, more efficient, and with unrivaled style. This is where Robert Williams got the inspiration and most of the ideas for Low Brow Art from him.In the garage of his studio, Roth kept the house open, resulting in a colorful amalgamation of people who frequented the place. of the. Williams recounts, “Every day something amazing would happen. In the morning, the Sam the Sham and the Pharaos recording crew would come in and a few minutes behind them were Sonny Barger and some angels.”

Williams’ work involved creating monthly advertising, graphic design work, working on elaborate hot rod projects (such as The Rat Fink and Peace Fink), and also sometimes contributed to Roth’s Chopper Magazine. When Roth’s financially rewarding association with Revell Models fell through due to his loyalty to Hell’s Angels, he quietly sold all of his inventory and closed the doors of the studio. Most of his show cars, original art, and graphic designs were sold to James Brucker Jr., who also purchased many of Robert Williams’ important low-brow art paintings.

low brow art

Thanks to Brucker’s support, Williams was able to work on his paintings for longer periods of time. In his work at that time he already demonstrated that he had not only mastered the intricate underglaze and underglaze techniques of his Renaissance and Flemish predecessors, but also the theoretical nuances of the modernists.

In 1974 it underwent a complete paradigm shift by breaking with the general “rule” of traditional pictorial canonizations that dictated that the dark border line that encompasses all shapes in cartoons should be avoided at all times. In his view, the exaggerated forms of cartoons were the truest and purest examples of abstraction comparable to the origins of art, found in Paleolithic cave paintings.