"As with Rothko’s luminous color field studies, Williamson’s paintings careen into near-spiritual territories, raising questions of subjectivity and our relationship to the living world." Eve Wood, Artillery Magazine Jan/Feb 2020 https://artillerymag.com/the-edge-of-order/
*Wonzimer Gallery Los Angeles CA November 1-December 1, 2020 LOS ANGELES, (Ca) — Contemporary Painter Todd Williamson joins artist and architect Christina Craemer for a collaborative exhibition on view at LA’s Wonzimer Gallery, entitled “The Edge of Order.' Deterministic Chaos” The show's second opening exhibition begins November 11th and runs thru December 1st, 2020. With the current health, economic and political climates as muse, the exhibition serves to explore the notion that chaos is order waiting to be understood, chaos is the footprint for what order is. In “The Edge of Order,” sweeping abstract expressions by Williamson, a Pollack-Krasner Foundation Prize for Creativity Awardee and 2019 Venice Biennale participant juxtaposition large-scale photo-realist images of waterfalls, captured by Craemer during her world travels which serve as the base for her work. The tension between the two artist styles is evident and intended to examine the interplay between chaos and order. The waterfalls representing deterministic chaos and the compositions of color, texture and complexity of the abstracts. indicative of bringing order to a canvas. A recurring component of Todd Williamson’s participation in exhibitions is accompanying music. The sound installation for this exhibition (If A Kiss Could Cry) is created by Alaia Parhizi, director of Wonzimer Gallery in collaboration with Williamson. The rendition starts with the soft perfect harmonies of Adagio for Strings which is soon undercut with a foundation of disharmonious tones that slowly erode into the distinct sound of a song we know, but associate with a slow decline into madness.
<<<3D Walk through of exhibition>>>
"Stillness," a Solo Exhibition at Georges Berges Gallery New York
“Stillness” exists in the absence of the normative chaos of movement and sound that are an integral part of society. Experiencing “stillness” is something seldom reached even though there is an inherent human need for it. How does one find it when the world is built upon the contrary. Mass media, breaking news, social media, and interpersonal communications competing for precious attention make reaching “stillness” a seemingly unattainable endeavor. Does it even still exist? What happens when we experience it? The works in this show are both chaotic and still and beg a moment to contemplate if you allow yourself to experience the “stillness” that may exist in them and in the world. Art is a reflection of the world and these works reflect my search for stillness within it. Questioning what is happening around me is a critical component of my work. Not pushing my opinions or thoughts on anyone else but questioning and inviting the observer to contemplate.
The image of a sword appears in many of my works and represents the idea of a life lived or an emotion experienced. Celebrity, fame, wealth all play into the concept and this show asks how we deal with this and find solace. Our quest for transcendence goes beyond this moment and it asks us to question who we are and why we are. We search for that moment of joy, light and space.
Rothko’s work was about emotion but it has always had its own spiritual meaning for everyone that sees it. It demands reverence and quiet contemplation. Throughout history art has been an invitation to stillness and reflection and at this moment in history that has never been so relevant.
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' an uncertain paradise (California Abstract)
MAC Museum Art & Cars October 31,2019 - September 13,2020
In California Dreamin', America Abstract painter Todd Williamson asks, “As a society, what are the implications of our hyper-attraction to power, wealth and influence today?” The exhibition calls for introspection on what role power and influence play in shaping contemporary society and to whom we cede power and influence over our daily lives.
The installation includes sweeping abstract artworks hanging next to iconic vanity plates such as F1, 1, 250, VIP 1, which were purchased individually for millions of dollars. It questions what we value as a society - how can a license plate represent so much to someone that they are willing to pay such vast sums of money to acquire it.
Williamson’s large scale paintings use color and movement to imagine the emotional traits and personalities of high ranking thought-provokers, celebrities, and power brokers - juxtaposed against depictions of the world’s most expensive vanity license plates to serve as the catalyst to probe why. California Dreamin' questions whether we’ve systematically lost our sense of reasoning with license plates selling for millions of dollars - and - are we paying close enough attention to the social and political changes occurring around us? Are we giving our power to the next saint or to a tyrant? Is power the ultimate corrupter?
California Dreamin' opens October 31, 2019 at the MAC Museum of /art and /cars 6-9 pm. To further stimulate the visitor’s experience, Williamson has collaborated with Professor Greg Walter, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, who developed a harmonic Nocturne that exemplifies emotions, chaos and repetition.
''PROCESSIONAL'' Official Collater Exhibition
presented by the MAK Center for Art & Architecture & the Pollock Krasner Foundation
Curator Priscilla Fraser (MAK) Music by Greg Walter (UNSCA)
58th Venice Biennale Santa Maria della Pieta Church May 8-November 24, 2019
Processional Recognitions Include:
12 Must Sees - Venice Insider 6 Official Collateral Events Not to Miss! - Widewalls 10 Unmissable Collateral Events - Domus 12 Essential Offsite Exhibitions - Forbes Global Passage Awarded - Art to Art Palette Prize for Creativity Award - Pollock Krasner Foundation
For Processional, Todd Williamson illustrates ideas of order and tradition to examine the deep uncertainty and uncontrollable political, social, and cultural movements of our time. Both the work and concept generated for this installation will draw directly from the environment in which it will be displayed, Chiesa di Santa Maria Della Pieta, in Venice. Occupying the long, narrow chapel located to the side of the Church, the space invites a meditative, sequential process of reflection. Drawing from the site’s formal proportions and material richness, the artist has developed a series of works, which encourage contemplation, challenge the perceived order of tradition and ask who are our apostles today? What are their roles? Is the influence of today’s perceived Influencers truly inspirational or dangerously dogmatic?
Williamson’s large-scale canvases will sweep across the chapel’s walls of brick and crumbling plaster. The artworks will propose a new layer to the deep patina of aging plaster and brick. The colors of these new works are connected to what Williamson has termed, “the Modern Apostles and their antithesis”, that is, contemporary influencers and thought-leaders that have the remarkable power to cover, pervade, and completely overwhelm the existing environment. Drawing from the historic tradition of imagined representations of apostle figures, Williamson will reconsider the visual “reality” of these individuals.
Williamson is collaborating with professor Greg Walter from the University of North Carolina, School of the Performing Arts, with whom he has developed a harmonic Nocturne-like composition specific to the installation.
*If you would like to help support this exhibition please visit the link below. Thank you!
Sun America Building Sun America Building, Main Lobby, Permanent Collection - Century City, CA
Nashville International Airport Ticketing Lobby "The Destination" 2014-2015
Unpolarized Light George Billis Gallery Los Angeles
A Convergence of Souls: Divine Discontent: West Hollywood, CA
A city sponsored Art Installation featuring Todd Williamson with Joe Davidson and Meeson Pae Yang. The 3 artists took 3 large vacant stores in a strip mall in West Hollywood and converted them into an art installation dealing with subjects from teen suicide, the church, mores, questioning institutions, beauty from decay, and ethereal landsca
Thoughts From a Mind Like Mine: George Billis Gallery Los Angeles, CA
HUFFINGTON POST HAIKU REVIEW: Todd Williamson seems in transition, moving from a darker to a lighter palette and toward a more and more articulated surface. No less about light (and shadow) than before, Williamson's abstract paintings now tend to the more consciously sensual. - Peter Frank
Two Solo-Exhibitions: Barbara Davis Gallery Houston, TX
Todd Williamson re-elaborates on the monochrome color field with the addition of a score of horizontal lines arranged in sequence from the top downwards and joined by penetrating blades of light. The interior need for order in the system of thought and pictorial research has made Williamson proceed with a kind of score on the canvas, a kind of plot, a scheme by means of which to read the work. Like musical scores bring order to the sounds transmitted by an indeterminate chaos of simple noises, turning them into a melody, Williamson gives pure color a visual and emotional order through the horizontal lines of his paintings.
The exhibition, ELEVATED, includes contemporary works by Andrea Bianconi, Chuck Close, Paul Fleming, Jenny Holzer, Donald Lipski, Joe Mancuso, Mie Olise, Danny Rolph, Ed Ruscha and Todd Williamson. The exhibition is curated by Barbara Davis.
Blurring the Lines: Leu Art Gallery- Belmont University, Nashville, TN 2009
Williamson combines his musical and visual arts talents with a performance in Harton Hall. The performance is a combination of three elements: music written by Greg Walter, a Williamson painting that is slowly revealed and a mirror attached to the back of the canvas to reflect the audience as it slowly turns. The purpose of the performance is to show the audience the influences and emotions that a visual artist feels when creating an original piece of artwork. "Blurring the Lines,"examines the question, “What influences an artist to keep painting?”