The work of Laura Williams is oft characterised as exuberant, elaborate, generous and engaging. With an idiosyncratic practice (critically developed outside of the walls of any art school) Williams calls to mind Dubuffet when describing her approach to art making “I am, what Jean Dubuffet would describe, a refuser; I am compelled to paint, my style is intrinsic, and I am most definitely obstinate when it comes to what and how I paint.”
With a masters in sociology, Williams’ work combines the artist's lived experience with societal critique. Creating scenes pregnant with suggestion, innuendo and meaning, Williams’ pictures range from the obviously personal to those more open to viewer interpretation. Regardless of which, Williams remains the most courteous of hosts as she prepares and constructs images for her audience to dissect (an aspect of her practice where she clearly finds pleasure).
For the 2022 Aotearoa Art Fair, Williams presents a new body of work titled Paradise Mound. Comprising paintings on board, Paradise Mound is, in the artist’s words, “…a visual stream of consciousness depicting coercion, dissuasion, realisation, relinquishment, estrangement, grief, determination, liberation, and reconciliation with self.” The gallery looks forward to sharing these works in our first or two presentations (which will run back to back) alongside significant ceramic works by Paul Maseyk.
Laura Williams (b. 1965) currently lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau. At the time of the 2022 Aotearoa Art Fair, Williams is completing the Golden Foundation Artist Residency in New York. This is Williams’ second residency in the United States, having been awarded the ChaNorth artist residency in 2018. Williams was awarded the Brian Perry Charitable Trust Merit Award as part of the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards in 2020, her works are held in notable private collections both nationally and internationally.
