Jed Williams Studio, Hmmm?, oil on canvas, 30 X 30 inches, $400
Jed Williams has refined the direction his painting has taken by working exclusively with oils. Known for his mixed media day-glo meditations, the artist has tamed his palette. Anthropomorphic faces easily appear in a jpg but in his atelier at 615 Bainbridge Street, with the sunlight streaming in the storefront window onto the large stretched swath of linen, the color story is an art experience that is nuanced and deep.
The fractured typography questions everything you know about art; rich, thick layers of oil paint speak with their own voices, echoing the question. The opalescent eyes glance sideways avoiding eye contact, clenched hands reach to cover the strained lips, restraining the urge to ask the ultimate question: Hmm? The artist searches for the answer in color fields, reaching into the dark indigo blacks, frantic intruding tentacles vibrate with thick paint strokes of citron, olive and naples yellow to mess everything up like a magic marker. The squirmy close-lippedhead simulacra glows with the radiant golden yellows. As yellow as you can get.
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Written and photographed by DoN Brewer.
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