Aubrey
Williams:
Dreams and Visions
20th May - 19th June, 2004
Aubrey
Williams, Untitled, c. 1970,
Gouache on Paper, 37.5 x 50.5 cm
To celebrate the work of Aubrey Williams, the renowned Guyanese artist, the October Gallery has compiled an exhibition of selected works on paper and canvas from his extensive legacy of over forty years of sustained artistic creativity. The exhibition, which contains many works never shown before in public, seeks to explore in greater depth the range and diversity of one of London's most innovative colourists.
Born in Georgetown Guyana in 1926, Aubrey Williams was the pre-eminent artist of his generation. Following early formal training as an agronomist, Williams spent two years living and working among the indigenous Warrau Indians of Guyana's north-western jungle, before moving to England in 1952 to study art. The experiences and impressions of this formative period proved a radical and longstanding influence on his art-work, markedly distinguishing it from both his Caribbean and European peers.
Alongside several major canvases from Williams' later period will be a selection of works on paper dating from the 60s to the late 80s. These brightly coloured works in oil and gouache give ample evidence of the development of the richly symbolic language that Williams was constantly seeking to refine. The mature oils take on added depths when juxtaposed with these striking manifestations of Williams' intensely creative dialogue of colour and form.
"Williams' paintings
cover a wide emotional range, from almost cataclysmic violence to a
feeling of gentleness and peace ..." Guy Brett.