Senon Williams is a lifelong visual artist and musician, and a Los Angeles native. Ranging in media from paintings on paper and canvas, to wood sculpture and assemblage, Williams explores poignant visualization of the inherent human struggle both ancient and contemporary. His love of language play, sounds, textures, and associations of word and object often explore the conflicts inherent in identity, history, and community. His new solo show, Once a Harbor, opens Saturday, January 13th, at Emma Gray HQ in Los Angeles.
Once A Harbor shielded from the storms and now a barren desert. Once a great civilization and now the books are burned for warmth. The constant flow of life is ever changing.
The paintings depict the beginning, middle or ending stages of our mercurial landscape. The dawn of life, life itself, or the ashes from which new life begins.
Once A Harbor – a metaphor for the known past and the unknown future, safety on an unstable foundation, departing sanctuary, the passing of time. Once A Harbor, the imagery re-examines their meanings when paired with words. Drawing relations that can depict the varying threads of time, a shelter, a caldron, the place where things go to be cleansed or reborn, the end of or endless times, a place to crawl into or to emerge from, a living breathing life-form. We are invited to place ourselves within this work and ponder.
The written word is a consistent part of his practice. He has published two books: Hunted & Gathered (2017) and Words Don’t Mean Much (2021), as well as multiple zines. Senon’s work has recently been featured in the LA Times and he has shown at Lauren Powell Projects (LA), PRJCTLA (LA), The Lodge (LA), Auxiliary Projects (NYC), Beyond The Streets, Southampton Arts Center (NY), One Eleven Gallery (Siem Reap) amongst many others. His work is in the public collections at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and The Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum, UCLA.
