Details:
① Artwork:
Southern Nights
In this work, the artist explores the process of automatic drawing by starting without a clear plan or image in mind. While building this composition, the artist was inspired by Langston Hughes’ poem, “I, Too.” This work mirrors another of the artist's works, Northern Nights, both in process and in subject matter—while the artist painted that work using only his left hand, he painted Southern Nights using only his right hand.
Downs' work processes trauma, spirituality, loss and history by extending personal experience—such as the aftermath of a hurricane or the loss of a close family member—toward a universal sensibility. Each of the artist's works attempts to archive a particular emotion related to an autobiographical experience. In doing so, each work crystalizes an archetype that extends beyond Downs' own dreams, history and journeys toward a broader human outlook. The artist frequently uses found objects, such as vintage paper or photographs, for both material and symbolic support in merging historical and personal narratives into a single composition.
Specs:
③ Artist:
William Downs’ work combines drawing, painting and installation to process trauma, spirituality, loss and history. The artist creates universal and archetypal compositions that draw from personal human experience—ranging from the aftermath of a hurricane to the loss of a family member. Downs employs a distinctive mark to depict subjects that are crystallizations of raw, emotional and biographical material.
BIO:
William Downs was born in 1974. The artist received an MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland in 2003. Downs also received a BFA in Painting and Printmaking at the Atlanta College of Art in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996.
Solo exhibitions of Downs’ work have taken place at the Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia; and the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.
Downs’ work was featured in the 2021 Atlanta Biennial at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center in Georgia. The artist’s work was also exhibited at the Albany Museum in Albany, Georgia; and the African American Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Downs received a MOCA GA Working Artist Project Grant in 2019 and the Artadia Award in 2018.
Downs has taught at MICA in Baltimore, Maryland and Parsons in New York City. The artist was a 2021 Visiting Critic and Lecturer at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado.
Downs lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia.
In this work, the artist explores the process of automatic drawing by starting without a clear plan or image in mind. While building this composition, the artist was inspired by Langston Hughes’ poem, “I, Too.” The artist painted this work using only his right hand.More
- Unframed
- Signed
