Gerald Williams USA, b. 1941

Overview

Gerald Williams is an American painter whose work explores culture, place and identity from a global perspective. Williams is one of the original five founders of AFRICOBRA, an internationally influential Black arts collective formed on the South Side of Chicago in 1967.

 

Williams’ paintings depict a polyrhythmic visual representation of life at the intersection of figuration and abstraction. Defined by what he calls “mimesis at midpoint,” his images unfold in a liminal space between what we can see and describe objectively, and what must be thought or felt intuitively.

 

In addition to the influence AFRICOBRA has had on his development as an artist, the distinctive aesthetic style Williams employs has been informed by a lifetime of international travel and a diverse range of professional, intellectual and aesthetic experiences. After serving in the U.S. Air Force for four years, Williams earned his BA from Chicago Teachers College in 1969, and his MFA from Howard University in 1976. He served two years in the Peace Corps as Prevocational Director in the Jacaranda School for the Mentally Handicapped in Nairobi, Kenya, then taught for four years in the Washington, D.C. public schools. From 1984 through 2005, Williams served as the Director of Arts and Crafts Centers on United States Air Force bases in South Korea, Japan, Italy, the Azores and the United States.

 

Williams distills the visual languages of the various places, cultures and identities he has encountered in order to express the essence of reality in an aesthetically contemplative way. The quiet nights in Nairobi; the rich colors of African clothing and architecture; the dynamic rhythms of life in the country and the city: all of these things affect his approach, and inform his polyrhythmic visual voice.

 

Williams’ work is included in several major collections, including that of the Smart Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the DeYoung Museum, and the DuSable Museum of African American History. Recent exhibitions of Williams' work include Everything Is Connected: Art and Conspiracy, The Met Breuer, NY, USA; AFRICOBRA: Nation Time, 2019 Venice Biennale Official Collateral Event, Venice, IT; AFRICOBRA: Messages to the People, MOCA North Miami, FL, USA; AFRICOBRA 50, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, USA; Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Tate Modern, London, England; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Fayetteville, AR; USA, Brooklyn Museum, NY, USA; The Broad Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA; San Francisco MOMA, CA, USA, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA; Gerald Williams, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, USA; The Time is Now! Art Worlds of Chicago’s South Side, 1960-1980, Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, USA. A major profile of Williams appeared in Hyperallergic in 2018, based on an oral history included in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.

Works
  • Gerald Williams, When Will It Ever End, 2022
    Gerald Williams
    When Will It Ever End, 2022
    Acrylic and collage on canvas
    60 x 48 in
    152.4 x 121.9 cm
  • Gerald Williams, He Granted You the Power and the Will to Prevail, 1981
    Gerald Williams
    He Granted You the Power and the Will to Prevail, 1981
    Silkscreen
    18 x 24 in
    45.7 x 61 cm
    Edition of 119
  • Gerald Williams, Family, 1976
    Gerald Williams
    Family, 1976
  • Gerald Williams, Big Payback, Get Ready., 1975
    Gerald Williams
    Big Payback, Get Ready., 1975
    Color screenprint on red wove paper
    23 x 16 in
    58.4 x 40.6 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Emerge, 1974
    Gerald Williams
    Emerge, 1974
    Hand-blocked screenprint on paper
    Approx. 16 x 12 in
    40.6 x 30.5 cm
    Edition of 10
  • Gerald Williams, Angela Davis, 1971
    Gerald Williams
    Angela Davis, 1971
    Acrylic on panel
    50 x 50 x 2 1/2 in
    127 x 127 x 6.3 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Malcolm , 1970
    Gerald Williams
    Malcolm , 1970
    Acrylic on canvas
    35 x 27 x 2 in
    88.9 x 68.6 x 5.1 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Orator, 1969
    Gerald Williams
    Orator, 1969
    Acrylic on canvas
    33 x 46 x 2 in
    83.8 x 116.8 x 5.1 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Take It, 1971
    Gerald Williams
    Take It, 1971
    Acrylic on masonite
    50 x 50 x 2 1/2 in
    127 x 127 x 6.3 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Say It Loud, 1969
    Gerald Williams
    Say It Loud, 1969
    Acrylic on canvas
    34 x 26 x 2 in
    86.4 x 66 x 5.1 cm
  • Gerald Williams, I Am Somebody, 1969
    Gerald Williams
    I Am Somebody, 1969
    Acrylic on canvas
    48 x 48 in
    121.9 x 121.9 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Family , 1976
    Gerald Williams
    Family , 1976
    Acrylic on canvas
    51 x 34 x 1 1/2 in
    129.5 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Message from a Giant - Garvey, 1976-2017
    Gerald Williams
    Message from a Giant - Garvey, 1976-2017
    Acrylic on canvas
    47 1/2 x 47 1/2 x 2 in
    120.7 x 120.7 x 5.1 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Untitled (Black Day Coming Uhuru), 1972
    Gerald Williams
    Untitled (Black Day Coming Uhuru), 1972
    Mixed media drawing on paper
    20 x 26 in
    50.8 x 66 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Portrait Y, 1970
    Gerald Williams
    Portrait Y, 1970
    Acrylic on linen
    24 x 18 in
    61 x 45.7 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Portrait Z, 1970 - 2007
    Gerald Williams
    Portrait Z, 1970 - 2007
    Acrylic on linen
    24 x 18 x 1 in
    61 x 45.7 x 2.5 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Sun Ship Mode , 1978
    Gerald Williams
    Sun Ship Mode , 1978
    Acrylic on board
    28 x 22 in
    71.1 x 55.9 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Astral Traveling #1, 1978
    Gerald Williams
    Astral Traveling #1, 1978
    Acrylic on board
    24 x 18 x 1 in
    61 x 45.7 x 2.5 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Astral Traveling #2, 1978
    Gerald Williams
    Astral Traveling #2, 1978
    Acrylic on board
    24 x 18 x 1 in
    61 x 45.7 x 2.5 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Untitled, 1978
    Gerald Williams
    Untitled, 1978
    Acrylic on paper
    28 x 22 x 1 in
    71.1 x 55.9 x 2.5 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Untitled, c. 1978
    Gerald Williams
    Untitled, c. 1978
    Acrylic on paper
    28 x 22 x 2 in
    71.1 x 55.9 x 5.1 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Wake Up , 1971
    Gerald Williams
    Wake Up , 1971
    Screenprint on wove paper
    42 x 28 in
    106.7 x 71.1 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Abner & Alleane, 1975
    Gerald Williams
    Abner & Alleane, 1975
    Acrylic on canvas
    34 x 31 x 1 in
    86.4 x 78.7 x 2.5 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Melancholy , 2007
    Gerald Williams
    Melancholy , 2007
    Acrylic on canvas
    16 1/4 x 20 1/4 in
    41.3 x 51.4 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Nostalgia , 2007
    Gerald Williams
    Nostalgia , 2007
    Acrylic on canvas
    16 1/4 x 20 1/4 in
    41.3 x 51.4 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Anonymity #1 , 2007
    Gerald Williams
    Anonymity #1 , 2007
    Acrylic on canvas
    39 x 15 x 2 in
    99.1 x 38.1 x 5.1 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Anonymity #3, 2007
    Gerald Williams
    Anonymity #3, 2007
    Acrylic on canvas
    41 x 17 x 2 1/2 in
    104.1 x 43.2 x 6.3 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Fragmentary Apparitions #1 , 2010
    Gerald Williams
    Fragmentary Apparitions #1 , 2010
    Acrylic on canvas
    22 x 18 x 1 in
    55.9 x 45.7 x 2.5 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Fragmentary Apparitions #2, 2010
    Gerald Williams
    Fragmentary Apparitions #2, 2010
    Acrylic on canvas
    22 x 18 x 1 in
    55.9 x 45.7 x 2.5 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Illumination, 1978
    Gerald Williams
    Illumination, 1978
    Ink on paper
    20 x 19 x 1 in
    50.8 x 48.3 x 2.5 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Introspection #2, 2009
    Gerald Williams
    Introspection #2, 2009
    Acrylic on canvas
    20 x 10 in
    50.8 x 25.4 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Levels and Degrees of Mimesis, 2007
    Gerald Williams
    Levels and Degrees of Mimesis, 2007
    Acrylic on canvas
    18 x 26 in
    45.7 x 66 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Mimesis Transformations , 2007
    Gerald Williams
    Mimesis Transformations , 2007
    Acrylic on canvas
    21 x 35 x 1 in
    53.3 x 88.9 x 2.5 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Mimesis #1 , 2007
    Gerald Williams
    Mimesis #1 , 2007
    Acrylic on canvas
    37 x 25 x 2 in
    94 x 63.5 x 5.1 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Phantasm #1 , 2009
    Gerald Williams
    Phantasm #1 , 2009
    Acrylic on cut wood
    17 x 22 x 2 in
    43.2 x 55.9 x 5.1 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Power and the Will to Prevail, 1974
    Gerald Williams
    Power and the Will to Prevail, 1974
    Screenprint on paper
    22 x 30 in
    55.9 x 76.2 cm
    Edition of 74, AP 5 of 5
  • Gerald Williams, Soweto, 1978
    Gerald Williams
    Soweto, 1978
    Print
    33 x 26 x 1 in
    83.8 x 66 x 2.5 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Two Smiles for Miriam , 1979
    Gerald Williams
    Two Smiles for Miriam , 1979
    Ink on paper
    19 x 21 in
    48.3 x 53.3 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Untitled, 2014
    Gerald Williams
    Untitled, 2014
    Acrylic on canvas
    36 x 24 in
    91.4 x 61 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Untitled, 2014
    Gerald Williams
    Untitled, 2014
    Acrylic on canvas
    36 x 16 in
    91.4 x 40.6 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Untitled, 1978
    Gerald Williams
    Untitled, 1978
    Ink on paper
    16 x 20 in
    40.6 x 50.8 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Untitled, 1978
    Gerald Williams
    Untitled, 1978
    Ink on paper
    16 x 20 in
    40.6 x 50.8 cm
  • Gerald Williams, Untitled, 1978
    Gerald Williams
    Untitled, 1978
    Ink on paper
    19 x 16 x 1 in
    48.3 x 40.6 x 2.5 cm
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