"Williams' "1962" serves as an ideal example of Karnowski's diagnosis. The work measures just a bit over five feet in height, and almost as long in width. It is comprised of oil on linen and features two sitting figures. The figure in the background is of a woman, she appears to either be putting her clothing back on, or taking it off, while at the same time looking over her shoulder, partly at the viewer and partly at the main figure in the center."
"Around the two is a hallucinatory world wherein she is indoors and he out. A stream of paint runs by his foot while a scorpion scampers across her bedsheets. Traditional Japanese ukiyo-e inspired imagery wavers on the outer extremities like faint memories reappearing in the subconscious. Subtle hints of violence and pain found in the deadly arthropod and varicose rivers running down his arms are fully realized by the lunging tiger engulfing the male figure's face."
Williams' 1962 measures just over five feet high and nearly as wide, painted in oil on linen and depicting two seated figures. A background female appears to be dressing or undressing while looking over her shoulder at the central male. The male face is mostly obscured, but one intense eye meets the viewer or himself. A hallucinatory space surrounds them: she appears indoors while he seems outside; a stream of paint runs by his foot; a scorpion scampers across her bedsheets; ukiyo-e inspired imagery wavers at the edges. Varicose, river-like marks run down his arms and a lunging tiger engulfs his face. The tiger functions as a visceral representation of human need for vitality; 1962 was also the Year of the Tiger. The tiger's role—relational symbol or introspective force—remains ambiguous, and the figures' meanings resist definitive interpretation.
Read at Hi-Fructose Magazine - The New Contemporary Art Magazine
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