It seems appropriate that Juxtapoz Founder and self-described “Conceptual Realist” painter Robert Williams has seen his retrospective, SLANG Aesthetics!, crisscross the United States in recent years. Stemming from roots in New Mexico and Alabama, as well as his later immersion in the West Coast, “the new cultural frontier,” as described by Walter Hopps, Williams draws from a scintillating color palette to add two glorious allegories for his traveling show, fresh from the heartland. It’s a pleasure to introduce Sequential Dissension and The Veil of Paternity, accompanied by Robert’s nuanced narrative.
The Veil of Paternity (Who’s the Father?)
Through the use of a rude 1940’s cliche, this painting challenges public indignation. Here, a pregnant woman, an unmarried young girl, faces horrible embarrassment. As a consequence, a shotgun wedding is destined. The girl’s father confronts and presses the point with a bewildered, multi-faceted symbol of the unconfessed possible love interest.
If there is no curiosity to explore further, the left half of this painting would serve as a simple postcard joke, and the painting could be dispensed with, but the greater weight of this narrative imposes itself on the right side. In fact, this complex, miasmal figure lays this psychosexual drama wide open, suggesting that all factions shown here are both guilty and innocent. The accused paramour, this cluttered assemblage, denies any implication with a cogent denial of “absolutely not!” But, apparently, the heart-stricken daughter has already pointed him out.
However, revealed inside this collective beast are two tableaus. First, in the lower center, the girl’s very virtue and consent are violently compromised—the devil has his way. For dad, this culprit’s guilt is obvious. But, in the second tableau, just above, the original action was vulgarly different as portrayed by the frail moppet being the sexual aggressor. Shown with the assistance of a knife, she demands the coital act and physical satisfaction from the now honor-bound demon. Doubtful as this last scenario is, it’s no more preposterous than any other phase of this graphic opus.
The tipping point in this anecdote is the presence of the salivating jaws, suggestive of an unstoppable sexual appetite emerging from the open box in the side of the miasmal figure. Considering this, the irate old farmer might concern himself with his own passive integrity. —Robert Williams
Sequential Dissension
Conflict is not the intended subject of this picture—it’s the painting’s use of conflict. In most paintings, placid and modestly arranged compositional elements suggest a peaceful, static pose. Not quite stagnant, but simple and thoughtfully staged as if everything exists comprehensively for the mature, no-nonsense observer. However, what is often lacking in a realistically rendered artwork is visual interchange.
Within this work, pastoral solace is substituted with reciprocation, something like involuntary participation. Three things best express interplay and social movement in art: one, violence; two, sexual activity; and three, joyous friendly cohesion.
A sequence of interactions can encourage the viewer to visually take part in the picture rather than just glance quickly and then pursue other interests. The graphic devices used to hold the observer’s attention must be, to some extent, tolerated for this experience.
“Joyous friendly cohesion,” though desirable, would soon extricate itself from drama turning saccharine and over-sentimental. “Sexual effrontery” would quickly imbue uncomfortable anxieties and public concerns. But, implied, impending violence would invite investigation, even if the danger is only suggested and unfulfilled. This involved artwork almost begs for systematic inquiry.
The sequence begins with a dog biting the cuff of a dapper top-hat adorned dilettante who, in turn, abducts a young punkette who has just stolen his wallet. This chain of events moves down as her attentions focus on a small, bestial demon below who is showing disdain, and so forth, as this interlocking group of players make up the movement generated within this picture.
If the painting’s observer was confronted with a happy-go-lucky series of sugarplums fawning over butterflies pollinating pansies, it would lack the visual stimuli to advance investigation beyond the first few characters. The closest thing to a violent engagement regarding this work is the visual congestion of its clashing composition. —Robert Williams
SLANG AESTHETICS! The Art of Robert Williams will be on view at Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Mesa, Arizona from September 8, 2017 to January 21, 2018.
