The Shocking Art of Robert Williams

At first glance, the violent and sarcastic universe created by one
of the great poineers of independent Art and American Art in general,
Robert Williams, may shock, titilate or disgust the beholder but when
studied closer one will discover the profound meaning.YouthWilliams,
born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 2, 1943, grew up in a rather
capricious environment because his father and mother married four
times, and therefore he was bounced repeatedly between his father who
lived in Montgomery, Alabama and his mother's home in Albuquerque, New
Mexico. Therefore his only true companion was art, he drew and painted
from an early age.When Robert Williams is twelve, this future Low Brow
art genius, failed the ninth grade twice, and was booted out of the
public school system for habitual truancy and transgressions against
the code of conduct. His only real interest was to be an artist, and
while he doggedly pursued this aspiration, he first became involved in
gang activity resulting in public drunkenness arrests and getting into
fights. Williams tells: "There wasn't a real bohemian society in
Albuqueque for me to follow. There were some people of that style that
hung around college that were drug addicts and stuff. I was obviously
going to get in a lot of trouble if I stayed in Alburqueque. I was
trying to get an art education".L.A.Because there were few
opportunities in Albuquerque he went to Los Angeles in 1963. He was
drawn to the movie industry and to the hot rod mystique in Los
Angeles. Williams tells: "You know my interest was getting into an art
career and associating myself with this hot rod karma that I'd read
about for years in car magazines".He became an editorial cartoonist
for the LACC paper, The Collegiate, and he lost himself in the theory
and technique of art. He also tried to announce himself to the
prestigious fine arts academy The Chouinard Art Institute but he was
refused because of his insistence on mastering the technical
virtuosity and pictorial representation, so recognizable in his later
Low Brow art work, while they focused on abstract expressionism,
emphasizing on unrecognizable imagery.Ed "Big Daddy" RothThen, after a
series of fruitless attempts, the manager of the unemployment office
offered him a job that would chance his life completely. This job was
at a 'freak' called Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Williams knew his name and
reputation and later told: "They told me that the freak that ran it
was some guy called Big Daddy and I said, 'Wait a minute, would that
be Ed Roth?' They said it was, and I said, 'Let me at it. I was born
for this job".In Ed Roths atelier cars were created in a freestyle
manner, and he did it faster, more effective, and in an unmatched
style. This is were Robert Williams got the inspiration and most of
the ideas for his Low Brow Art. In his studio garage, Roth kept open
house resulting in a colorful amalgam of people frequenting his spot.
Williams tells: "Every day something amazing would happen. In the
morning Sam the Sham and the Pharaos' recording group could walk in
and few minutes behind them would be Sonny Barger and some
Angels".Williams work consisted of creating monthly advertising,
graphic design work, working on the elaborate hot rod projects (like
The Rat Fink and Peace Fink) and sometimes he also contributed to
Roth's periodical Chopper Magazine. When Roth's financially rewarding
association with Revell Models stranded because of his loyalty towards
the Hell's Angels, he quietly sold all of his inventory and closed the
doors of the studio. Most of his show cars, original art and graphic
designs were sold to James Brucker Jr. who also purchased many of
Robert Williams' important low brow art paintings.Low Brow ArtDue to
Brucker's support, Williams was able to work on his paintings for
longer periods of time. In his work at that time he already
demonstrated that he not only had mastered the intricate underpainting
and overglazing techniques of his Renaissance and Flemish
predecessors, but also the theoretically based nuances of the
modernists.In 1974 he underwent a complete paradigmatic change when he
broke with the general "rule" of the traditional painterly
canonizations dictating that the dark edged line which encompasses all
shapes in cartoons to avoid at all times. In his vision the
exaggerated forms in cartoons were the most true and pure examples of
abstraction comparable to the origins of art, found in the Paleolithic
cave paintings.