Recently, myself and Mr CR Stecyk III headed ourselves out to Chatsworth, California for a visit with our founder, Mr Robert Williams. If you don't know, Robert is preparing for his massive solo exhibition at both Tony Shafrazi Gallery in NYC this Halloween, and at CSU Northridge in early 2010. And this coming November, we have a big Robert Williams issue hitting newsstands, so the stars were aligned and I needed to go check out the status on the issue/shows/the man/the hot rods/etc . . . And there is Robert is said studio, giving us a little tour of new and newer works.

Stecyk and I got to our location a little early as the 405 proved flawless, so we made the best of the trip and began to search the local Wal Mart for Manny Ramirez tees and perhaps a few new suits, in multiple colorways, to wear in the 90+ degree heat. Somehow, and maybe it was because we were the only people in the store looking at the origin of all Wal Mart products, and maybe because my search for a baseball mitt go a little to vocal, all systems were shut down in Wal Mart. No debit use, alas, no suits/mitts/ManRam tees for us.

But we did notice the clouds in the Valley were especially interesting. Seriously, we noticed.

Stecyk and I getting prepped for the studio. Wal Mart's electronic malfunctions put a bit of a damper on the afternoon to that point.

I'm not a cloud formation guy (there are tons out there, I know), but the sky in Chatsworth was just . . . odd that day.

Cool it on the clouds.

Okay, here we go. The cars. Beauties. Roberts' garage was like a museum, everything in perfect order and so many cool pieces of art and hot-rod memorabilia around. 

Truth be told, I got to ride in the one on the left after the interview was over. It doesn't get much more Southern California than riding in a hot rod with Robert Williams on sunny summer day... 

Robert showing us sketches and print-outs of all the new work for the NYC show. Do you want to see them? Robert wouldn't let me show you. Not yet. Soon. As in Halloween. Or whenever Shafrazi wants to release the previews. 

 Just a few brushes in all shapes and sizes. I love how meticulous is studio is. Everything is used, but everything in its right place. 

A little taste of the master's creation space. Robert explained each brush and tube of paint to me . . Artists, I have never had the opportunity to say this, but paint, the good kind, is expensive. REALLY expensive. Sorry about that . . .

Robert will be back in a November Juxtapoz when you get your hands on it. 

I have some massively cool pics from Gentle Giant Studios that I took in Burbank this past week, but I need to get some approval on those. Coming soon. Stay tuned.