Robert Williams at “The Last Bookstore, Downtown Los Angeles, January 12, 2020. Photo by Tequila Mockingbird.
The signing of “Robert Williams: The Father of Exponential Imagination” on January 11, 2020, at The Last Bookstore, was packed.
There was an art talk with one of our favorite folks, Mat Gleason, of Coagula Magazine, and the room was transformed into the church of art. But Williams doesn’t believe art should be treated that way–he believes that “Art should be treated like the dirty whore she is–everyone gets a turn.”
Robert Williams is credited with creating the Lowbrow art scene. He worked for Zap Comics, created Juxtapoz Magazine, and spent many nights hawking art at the Zero Gallery, which was an after-hours drinking establishment where I was a curator in the 80s.Williams believes Punk rock changed his life. Those late night parties lead to many collectors buying his off-the-wall paintings and illustrations.
The Book weighs 25 pounds and is chalk full of Williams’ amazing slice of life. He and his wife, Suzanne, are a creative team.
“This is a comprehensive, career-spanning, collection of the iconic painter’s fine art, including every one of his oil paintings, along with a selection of his drawings, sculptures, and multimedia works…Featuring an introductory essay by Coagula Art Journal founder Mat Gleason, along with a new art manifesto and foreword by Williams himself (the former of whom brought the term ‘lowbrow’ into the fine arts lexicon), as well as tons of rare photos and ephemera.” – “Robert Williams: The Father of Exponential Imagination”
by Fantagraphics Books
Care and feeding of the artist is a manditory event performed daily for health and well being. I had a gallery in the 90s with Ray Zone, the father of 3D art’s resurgence. Our gallery was called Zomo. It was short for Zone Mockingbird and we spent sunday afternoons together with Leonardo DiCaprio, his dad, George, and his stepmom, Peggy, in the backyard. Art was always on our walls and we were a happy art family.
Williams did the Appetite for Destruction album cover for Guns and Roses. Little did he know it would become his most viewed artpiece. It was worth far mote than they paid to use it. Meanwhile, he has painted over a thousand brilliant works, now contained in the book, which are all in strikingly vivid colour.
Dirty, delicious, and down-home, Williams is the real, real, real king of comic fine art illustration worldwide. He is like the end of a prayer where you say “Amen.”
